Page:Bird-lore Vol 04.djvu/105

 84. Bird — Lore

There is one advantage which this new method of studying birds affords which has not been adequately set forth—that of learning with precision the kind of food brought to nestlingsr A skilled observer can stand in his tent and note every kind of fruit and every species of insect brought to the nest, excepting comparatively rare cases when the prey is mutilated or pulverized before it is served. Hitherto information on this head has been very meager because of the uncertainty of watching nesting birds at a distance If, on the other hand, a young bird is killed in order to examine the contents of its stomach, the possibility of continued obser- vation, which alone can yield much information of value, is at once destroyed. One can, indeed, take the young from the nest and place them in a cage suspended near the nesting bough, or cage the ﬂedglings. and this is but another way of applying the method which uses parental instinct as a chain between old and young.

The nest with all its surroundings is of less importance to the adult birds than is commonly supposed, especially when the instinct to nourish and protect the young is at its height. During the past three summersI have studied forty nests of wild birds by the method of controlling the site, and using the tent for a blind, while the accidents, which came mainly from inexperience, could be counted on the ﬁngers of one hand. When we think of the thousands of eggs taken each year by the misguided collectors, or the hundreds of birds shot to see what they have in their stomachs, this record seems fairly good, but it does not satisfy me. The death roll which science exacts is already large enough. In our studies of animal behavior it is life and not death which we wish to perpetuate.

FEMALE cHEEEc. 0R LEAST FLY \TC STA DI G WITH WINGS SPREAD OVEK HER YOUNG T0 WARD OFF THE HEAT Loin. Zciss Anasligmal. Series in. (:35 inch‘ speed Ix. SIDD r2. lime rs sccuml. distance about an Inches m mu sun. Northﬁeld, x. H. July 2. mm