298 U.S. NATIONAL MUSEUM BULLETIN 237 i-aex i 



he stayed in the area during the day, there was evidence that he joined 

 other males in flights to a night roost. In one instance the roost was 

 a mile and a half distant. 



The house finch shows a marked tendency to return to the same 

 nest, not only for the second brood, but in subsequent years. In 

 this connection, Willard (1923) writes: "On the San Pedro River are 

 some large ranches where much hay is raised. At one of these a 

 large stack is always built in a certain deserted ranch yard and a 

 pair of House Finches have had their nest in it every time I have 

 visited the spot. This season, after a lapse of six years, I visited the 

 place again, in company with Mr. A. C. Bent, and remarked as we 

 came to the stack that I always used to find a finch's nest in it 'just 

 about here', and, as I touched the hay, out flew Madame Finch from 

 her nest, which held five eggs. In passing, may I remark that this 

 was one of the few places where I could count on getting a set of five 

 eggs. Most of the finches in that region lay four." Nests are quickly 

 prepared for reoccupancy by adding a layer of nesting material to 

 the top and interior to cover the filth left by the preceding brood. 

 The second brood often foUows the fiist with very little delay, and 

 instances in which the broods actually overlapped were cited by 

 Aiken (1914): 



When the young in this nest were half grown the parents built a second nest 

 under my neighbor's porch and while the male was attending the first brood the 

 female raised another. In 1898 the breeding impluse was even stronger. The 

 male was first noticed December 27 of the previous year to come and inspect the 

 old nest. At intervals of ten days he came after that for several weeks before he 

 brought his mate. In March the pair cleaned and relined the old nest and the 

 female began incubating. Soon after the young were hatched a second nest was 

 built adjoining the first and attached to it in which a second complement of eggs 

 was laid and the female sat on these while the young were growing in the first 

 nest beside her. When the second brood were hatched a third clutch of eggs was 

 laid in the nest now vacated by the first brood and a third brood sucessfuUy 

 reared. 



While two broods seem to be normal in the house finch, the num- 

 ber may be greater, or at times less. Aiken (1914) suggests an expla- 

 nation for this variation, based on his observation of one pair through 

 a period of 10 years : "I assume and am convinced that the birds were in 

 their first reproductive year when they built the first nest. They 

 reached the height of reproductivity in the third year when they 

 raised three broods. In succeeding years they dropped to two 

 broods and then to one. This may be accepted as a law or rule appli- 

 cable to other species whose habit is recorded of producing two or 

 more broods in a season. We may conclude that the more vigorous 

 pairs produce two or more broods some seasons but other pa,irs may 

 produce but one." 



