170 BULLETIN 203, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



at five days old, 7.26 gms. ; at six days old, 8.20 gms. ; and at seven days old, 

 S.78gms. * * * 



Of the 168 eggs in forty-one nests, 119 eggs, representing 70.83%, hatched. 

 Thirty -four eggs, representing 20.24%, disappeared due to wind, abandonment 

 of nest, and unknown causes. Fifteen eggs, representing 8.93% were addled, 

 two of which were buried with a Cowbird's egg. Of the 119 nestlings, twenty- 

 eight disappeared. This represents 16.66% of all eggs laid. Four of them were 

 seen dead in the nests. The others disappeared from unknown causes. There- 

 fore a total of 91 fledglings, representing 54.17% of the original 168 eggs, left 

 the nest. • * * 



After all the young left a nest, the parent birds could be found feeding 

 them in the immediate vicinity of the nest for a period of about three days. 

 After this time the birds became more dispersed from the nesting site, but 

 could still be found in the vicinity for a week or ten days. 



An unusual casualty is recorded in the following note sent to me 

 by Dr. Harrison F. Lewis : "A nest of this species which I found in 

 a sheep-pasture, was largely built of wool, presumably gathered from 

 the neighboring bushes, where it had been left by the sheep. One 

 of the young birds in this nest died as a result of having threads of 

 the wool in the nest become entangled about its tongue and bill. An- 

 other member of this brood became entangled in a similar fashion, 

 but I released it." 



Plumages.— 'Dy. Dwight (1900) calls the natal down "mouse-gray," 

 and describes the juvenal plumage, in which the sexes are alike, as 

 ''above, pale olive-brown. Wings clove-brown broadly edged with 

 bright olive-yellow paling at tips of the quills, the edge of the outer 

 primary bright lemon-yellow. Tail pale clove-brown, the inner webs 

 of the rectrices lemon-yellow, the outer edged with olive-yellow. Be- 

 low, pale sulphur-yellow, unstreaked." 



The first winter plumage is acquired by a partial postjuvenal molt 

 early in July that involves the contour plumage and the wing coverts 

 but not the rest of the wings or the tail. He describes the young male 

 as "above, pale yellowish olive-green, the edgings of the wing coverts 

 paler. Below, dull lemon-yellow obscurely, narrowly and sparingly 

 streaked on the throat and sides with pale chestnut." The female is 

 paler throughout and has no streaking. 



The first nuptial plumage is acquired by a partial prenuptial molt 

 in early spring, "which involves most of the body plumage, the wing 

 coverts and the tertiaries, but not the primaries, their coverts, the 

 secondaries, nor the tail. The whole plumage becomes golden lemon- 

 yellow, greener above and [in the male] brightly streaked on the 

 throat, breast and sides with pale chestnut, somewhat veiled by the 

 feather edgings. The forehead and crown are yellower than the back 

 and usually chestnut tinged. The tertiaries and wing coverts are 

 broadly edged with bright lemon yellow." The female in this plumage 

 is yellower than in the fall and has a few obscure chestnut streaks 



