HOUSE FINCH 301 



"Warmth is essential to these nearly naked nestlings, and they 

 constantly seek it. When being handled they lie close to the hand 

 holding them, and if the fingers are closed over them they are content 

 to remain motionless until disturbed. When lying on an open hand 

 they lie with their bare abdomen pressed to the warmth of the hand, 

 but if the fingers are slightly curved over them, the birds struggle 

 to get their entire bodies under the jBngers. When put back into the 

 nest there is quite a commotion and jockeying for position as each one 

 burrows in among the others in an effort to find suitable contact 

 positions and a comfortable temperature. 



"Until the third day of observation the eyes were closed, with only a 

 very narrow slit showing where the lids separated on the fourth day. 

 On the third day the birds could open their eyes a tiny bit, but seemed 

 to prefer to keep them closed. By the fourth day the eyes were open 

 more of the time than they were closed. Bergtold reports that the 

 eyes of the birds he observed opened on the third day. 



"Most of the observations made by the present wi'iter were made 

 between the hours of 5 p.m. and 7 p.m. At this time the crops of 

 the birds were greatly distended, and the contents could be seen to be 

 largely dandeUon seeds, which suggests the importance of this bird in 

 control of this weed. The skin of the neck is very thin, loosely folded, 

 and almost transparent. A full crop makes a large bulge on the right 

 side of the neck. In the morning this bulge is scarcely noticeable. 



"By the fourth day the birds could hold their bodies off the ground 

 for short periods. In doing so, the wings were used as anterior props 

 to assist the legs. They became progressively more active with each 

 passing day. On the fifth day they developed a technique for resisting 

 being taken from the nest. When touched they immediately cowered 

 among their siblings and locked their toes around some of the nesting 

 materials or the handiest part of the nearest nestling. This gripping 

 became more tenacious on succeeding days, and it frequently took a 

 minute or two to disengage the feet and lift the birds free of the nest." 

 This brood had left the nest by the 11th day of Knight's observations, 

 which would indicate that the time spent in the nest might be less 

 than that recorded in Colorado or California. 



Evenden (1957) states young never returned to the nest after the 

 initial flight, which ranged from 12 to 125 feet in distance and up to 

 9 feet in height. 



He (1957) also describes at length an instance of one female, in 

 1951, presumably with the same male, maintaining two nests, 16 

 feet apart, at the same time. Timing was such that the second clutch 

 hatched the d&j before four of the five young in the first nest departed. 

 A year later, "double nesting" was observed again. Other instances 

 are suspected. 



