388 U.S. NATIONAL MUSEUM BULLETIN 23 7 part i 



down, wool; hair sometimes added." Nests in the Massapequa area 

 showed the birds preferred to use certain plants in their construction, 

 influenced to some extent by the materials available at the season. 

 One June nest was made almost entirely of whitlow grass (Draba 

 verna, a mustard) with the small bell-like flowers still on the drying 

 stalks. Five other Jime nests were built mainly of mouse-ear chick- 

 weed (Cerastium vulgatum), also very decorative. A late nest, built 

 about July 10, had walls of fibrous stems without flowers. Linings 

 in the early nest contained such fluffy materials as could be found 

 nearby, in one case soft pink thread, bits of wool, absorbent cotton, 

 and plant down. A late June nest was lined almost entirely with 

 thistle down. 



Three Massapequa nest cups measured 2K6 inches across and VA 

 inches deep; their bottoms and side walls were j^ inch thick. Al- 

 though firmly supported, the nests had such weak rims that young 

 in the later stages often broke them down, especially after heavy rains 

 softened the excreta-covered side walls, and converted the cup into 

 an irregular platform, which in one case measured 5^ inches by 2}^ 

 inches. In another nest I released a young bird whose rear end had 

 wedged into the crack of a separated rim. At Baldwin, Long Island, 

 an adult caught similarly in a broken rim was found dead hanging 

 by its neck after the nesting season. 



Eggs.— To quote Witherby (1938) again: "Usually 5-6, 3, 4, and 

 7 also on record, bluish-white ground-color with few spots and streaks 

 of red-brown, sometimes very dark, and ashy shell-marks * * *. 

 Average of 100 British eggs, 17 X 12.8 mm. Max.: 19 X 13.5 and 

 16.3 X 13.6 mm. Min.: 15.5 X 12.2 mm." In practically all Amer- 

 ican nests on record, including those I studied at Massapequa, the 

 clutch is five eggs. I measured no eggs in the nests for fear of dis- 

 turbing the birds, but some varied noticeably in size and shape. The 

 second egg laid m one late June nest I estimated to be one-eighth inch 

 longer than its predecessor. Before I could study this interesting egg 

 further, and shortly after the fourth egg was laid, the nest was robbed 

 and its plant-down lining found at the foot of the nest tree. 



Incubation. — Witherby (1938) states that incubation is "by hen 

 alone, fed by cock; begins before clutch is complete. Period 12-13 

 days." He adds that in Britain the breeding season starts "excep- 

 tionally in April; most eggs laid from mid-May onward * * * nor- 

 mally two broods: three at times, as young found in September." 



From the records available at the time, Allan D. Cruickshank 

 (1942) stated that in the New York region "There is but one brood, 

 local egg dates ranging from April 26 to June 4." Soon after this, 

 on July 5, 1942, Roger Tory Peterson and I found a European gold- 

 finch's nest with five eggs that were still unhatched July 11. The 



