432 BULLETIN 191, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



the nest, emerging shortly to repeat the performance- During the first five days 

 the male was not seen to go into the nest, but sang right merrily near by. After 

 that time the young began to make themselves heard in hungry cries, and he 

 began to carry food to them, virhich we could see in his bill. This food consisted 

 almost exclusively of small green worms, and eggs and larvae of insects. The 

 young Verdins remained in the nest quite three weeks, and long after their 

 debut they returned to the nursery every night to sleep. 



The young are fed by their parents for some time after they leave 

 the nest and are well able to fly. They sit around in the bushes wait- 

 ing to be fed, and uttering notes much like those of the adults but 

 shorter and weaker, while their parents are foraging for food. 



Plumages. — I have seen no very young verdins, but apparently they 

 are hatched naked, and they probably acquire the juvenal contour 

 plumage before they leave the nest. Young birds in juvenal plumage 

 have no yellow on the head and no chestnut on the lesser wing coverts. 

 The entire upper parts, crown, back, rump, and lesser wing coverts are 

 uniform grayish brown, "hair brown" ; the under parts are very pale 

 brownish gray, nearly white posteriorly; the v/ings, except the lesser 

 coverts, and the tail are as in the adult. The postnuptial molt of the 

 adult begins before the end of July and may last well through September ; 

 I have seen molting adults as early as July 28 and as late as September 

 29. Probably the postjuvenal molt comes at about the same time. 



Food. — Very little has been published on the food of the verdin, 

 which seems to consist of insects and their larvae and eggs, and of wild 

 fruits and berries. Dr. Taylor tells me that he has seen one eating the 

 berries of the hackberry tree. Mrs. Bailey (1928) writes: "These 

 little desert birds would seem almost independent of water, nests having 

 been found at least ten miles from any known water. The question 

 is whether by means of their insect food and berries they are made 

 largely independent of other liquid." 



Behavior. — In its movements and all its activities the verdin shows 

 its relationship to the chickadees, as it flits about actively in the bushes 

 searching for its food, clinging tenaciously to branches swayed by the 

 wind, or hanging head downward from the tips of twigs, hunting every 

 little crevice and the under sides of the foliage. During the nesting 

 season it is shy and retiring; perhaps we should say sly, rather than 

 shy, for it slips away unobserved from its nest and keeps out of sight 

 in the nearest thicket; it is difficult to surprise one on its nest, and one 

 is seldom seen near the nest unless it has young, when the little bird 

 becomes quite bold, flitting about in the vicinity, chippering and scolding. 

 But in winter its behavior is somewhat different, according to Mr. 

 Brandt (1940), who says that "like the chickadee, the Verdin becomes 

 more sociable, responding readily to my summons, and is one of the 



