HOUSE FINCH 303 



bare. Between the center line of the head and either eye there were 

 two streaks of down running from the base of the beak backward to 

 a point just behind the eye. These last four mentioned tracts 

 measured 6 mm. in length, and the down tufts themselves measured 

 from 3 to 8 mm. in length. 



"The cervical region and the anterior part of the back were bare. 

 At a point between the wings the dorsal down tract began and extended 

 posteriorly to terminate abruptly above the oil gland. The humeral 

 down streaks were 4 mm. wide, and the tufts measured 3 to 5 mm. in 

 length. A short femoral tract measured 10 mm. in length, while the 

 downy tufts varied from 5 to 10 mm. in length. The wings at their 

 widest point were 8 mm. across, and bare except for a tract of down 

 6 mm. long on the posterior edge. There was a little down on the 

 shank of the legs, and it was scattered about without pattern or design. 

 Downy tufts at the tarsus measured 3 to 4 mm. in length, and were 

 confined to the outside of the leg. 



"The abdominal region of these birds was very bare except for two 

 lateral streaks of down appearing in narrow tracts between the legs. 

 The tracts were 10 mm. long, and the tufts measured 3 to 5 mm, in 

 length. There were two rows of pin holes in the skin of the latero- 

 ventral region where the feather tracts later developed." 



Assuming that there had been no significant change between hatch- 

 ing and the discovery of the brood, this seems to represent an interme- 

 diate condition, in that the natal covering was much more conspicuously 

 developed than in the Colorado nesthngs, while on the other hand, 

 the down of the head, though disposed in a different pattern from that 

 described by Dr. Bergtold, still occurred in linear tufts, unHke the 

 Cahfornia birds. 



The great variations which occur in the normally red portions of the 

 male house finch's plumage have been the subject of much comment 

 and study. It is well known that in captive bii'ds the red color eventu- 

 ally changes to yellow, and this is also true of those which were intro- 

 duced into the Hawaiian Islands. On the other hand, F. C. Lincoln 

 (1917), in writing of the birds of Kock Canyon, Ariz., says: "The males 

 of this region are remarkably brilliant ; much more vermilion than any 

 in my series of Colorado specimens. This may be the result of the in- 

 tense sunhght." Even in a single locality and under natural condi- 

 tions, moreover, bright red may in certain individuals be replaced by 

 tawny orange, deep yellow, or pinkish, while the extent of the reddish 

 area is also variable. In the course of studies carried on in connection 

 with their banding operations, Harold Michener and Josephine K. 

 Michener (1931) discovered that the paler hues were usually replaced 

 by red in subsequent years, and that in some individuals the red areas 

 increased in extent with age, while the reverse changes were of much 



