Page:Bird-lore Vol 08.djvu/157

 A Kingbird Family 121 expectation. If disappointed, they dropped back to their slumber with noth- ing more than a gentle peep. When her charges were resting quietly, the old bird would often sit perfectly still on a twig above the nest or on the post to one side, her head constantly turning and her bright, dark eyes searching earth and sky. Now and then she would fly at some Brown Thrasher or Catbird that ventured too near, or mount into the air to capture an insect for her own meal. While the growth of such birds is very rapid, requiring in this instance about eighteen days from the hatching of the eggs to produce fully fledged birds, it is not so remarkable when considered in the light of the quantity of food consumed. The study of such life histories is all the more interest- ing because the time required for development is short. As the birds grew, much pleasure was taken in noticing the acquisition of voice. When seven or eight days old they were comparatively voiceless, a little later the only cry was a peep like that of a chick, and several days before leaving, the young were giving in a rather subdued tone the ching, ch'mg of the adult. At HER DUTIES DONE ; YOUNG FIFTEEN DAYS OLD this time I found it hard, when the old bird was off in search of food, to determine whether I heard her cries in the distance or those from the nest. At the pin-feather stage no other exercise was taken than what might be termed cervical and mandibular. But during the last few days of their stay, the young were constantly moving about when not asleep. At first their