174 Life H. astory of the House Finch. | ZOE 
Nitzsch says of them!* “ The downy covering of newly-hatched 
young birds consists, according to some authors, of down-feathers, 
and according to others, of hairs: in most birds, however, it is form- 
ed neither of one nor the other, but solely of early-deciduous, down- 
like, or setiform processes, seated upon the apices of the first-formed 
barbs of contour feathers, or even of down-feathers. ”~ dh -Coues’ 
Key, which follows Nitzsch very closely in regard to feathers, I can 
find no mention of this early growth. In the absence of any name 
for them, I would suggest that they be called pzloplumules. Figure 
4 shows one of these piloplumules greatly magnified. The shaft is 
a long, slender, solid stem, with alternate branches or barbs placed 
at considerable intervals apart. Just what the use of these feathers 
is it would be difficult to say, as they seem hardly continuous enough 
to afford any protection from the cold. The fact that they occur 
only on the upper part of the body would seem to indicate, however, 
that their use must be to protect that region which is most exposed 
in birds while in the nest. 
Figure 2 is a back view of the same bird on the day of hatching. 
Figure 3 represents the bird on the third day. It will be observed 
that the feathers on the breast have made their appearance, thus af- 
fording an Opportunity of noting the bird's pterylography. The 
feathers on the gular portion are few and scattered, but soon divide 
into two distinct bands on the truncal portion. The lateral tract 
“pp€ars contemporaneously with the others, and is distinct and well 
marked. 
_ It will be noticed that on the day of hatching there is no indica- 
tion of an ear passage. By the third day, however, a dent appears 
in the skin. This dent is more pronounced on the fourth day, and 
on the fifth a small orifice is pierced. The eye, which is closed on 
the first and second days, has a small slit in it on the third day. 
On the day following the slit is more distinct, and on each succeed- 
ing day it opens wider, until the end of the first week when it is 
completely open. It does not open it to the fullest extent, however, 
before the tenth day. The claws are present when the bird is 
hatched, but very small and perfectly smooth. It is not until the 
seventh day that the scutella become visible on the feet and meta- 
tarsus. On the eighth day they are much more pronounced, and 
" Pterylography, p. 14. 
