VOLs 1} Life History of the House Finch. 173 
or five eggs generally constitute a set, although I have found sev- 
eral sets of six and one of seven. é 
After the first egg is laid the female begins to set. In this duty I 
have never known the male to assist, although he is a very attentive 
consort, remaining constantly near the nest while his mate is set- 
ting, and accompanying her whenever she leaves it. This year an 
especially favorable opportunity was presented to me for observing 
the nidification of a pair of these birds, and as it is essentially the 
same in all cases, I will describe it in detail. The nest was situated 
in a bush at the height of about five feet, and the first egg was laid 
on May 14. On the 18th the fifth and last egg was in the nest, one 
egg having been laid each day. The female began setting after the 
first egg was laid, but less constantly tlan lateron. For the first 
few days she was undemonstrative when I approached, quietly leav- 
ing the nest and returning directly to it as I withdrew, but as the 
time for hatching drew near she showed great uneasiness, and the 
male even joined with her at times in hovering about the nest and 
uttering cries of alarm. On May 3: the first egg was hatched, hav- — 
ing been incubated thirteen days; and before the day was past a 
second was pipped. This egg did not hatch until the evening of 
June 1, and on the next morning a third egg had hatched. The 
other two were pushed out of the nest and destroyed, but whether 
by accident or design I was unable to determine. : 
Figure 1 of Plate VI represents a young bird on the day of hatch- 
ing. The appearance of the young, especially at this stage, is any- 
thing but prepossessing. It is nearly naked; its wings and legs 
seem like mere useless appendages stuck on to its sides; its eyes 
are closed but protrude on the sides of the head like two dark- 
bluish balls; it has a prominent round pot belly which is covered 
with a smooth shiny skin, and certainly does not add to the beauty 
of the creature. An apology for feathers grows upon certain re- 
stricted areas of the bird—on the head, the dorsum, and the flanks. 
These feathers are white and erect, the longest of them being from 
eight to ten millimeters. They are the most rudimentary of feath- 
ers, consisting of but two parts, the stem and barbs. The barbs are 
so fine that they are very inconspicuous and the feathers have the 
- appearance of fine white hairs, quite limp and wavy in texture, but 
- perfectly erect. These feathers are certainly worthy of a name. 
