HOUSE FINCH 309 



The song of the male linnet is heard off and on through the greater part of the 

 year. After the annual molt begins, in late summer, singing is indulged in 

 sparingly and the birds usually remain relatively quiet until some protracted 

 warm spell during the late winter, or until the first days of actual spring. I rom 

 then on, their voices resound, in favorable places, from early dawn until late 

 dusk. During the courting season they are as apt to pour forth their melodies 

 while in flight high overhead as when perched. 



After the couples have become established, the male and female of each pair 

 stay close together, both when perched or when in flight, and when alone or with 

 other pairs. In flight, the male usually keeps a little behind and to one side of 

 the female, and when foraging he is quick to follow any changes in her location. 

 After she begins the work of incubation he is wont to post himself on a perch close 

 to the nest, where he is seen and heard much of the time. 



In the cool coastal climate of the Point Lobos Reserve, Grinnell 

 and Linsdale (1936) made the following observation: "Ordinarily 

 Unnets exhibited a marked preference for open places, exposed to 

 the sunshine. Flocks were observed in winter in the dead tops of 

 pines at the margin of the v>^oods, on wkes of telephone and pov>'er 

 lines, in live oaks, in the dead and leafless cypresses and also in the 

 live ones, on the ground where the cover of vegetation was sparse, in 

 the tops of brush piles, and in extensive patches of mustard and 

 radish. Some of these places were occupied as forage sites, but 

 others serve only as safety refuges or as perches w^here, seemingly 

 sunshine could be absorbed." 



George A. Bartholomew and Tom J. Cade (1956) showed that 

 water consumption increased directly with increasing ambient tem- 

 peratures. Mean consumption at 39° C. was over 40 percent of 

 body weight per day. A bird might drink over 100 percent of its 

 body weight in 24 hours. Birds were hyperactive at this temperature, 

 and some individuals panted almost continuously. At 20° down to 

 6° the birds were under no apparent stress. Succulent food proved 

 important for birds in the deserts and enabled them to mamtain 

 body weights during a 7-day test period without water. 



Voice. — The linnet household furnishes an outstanding example of 

 a "musical famUy." The male is an indefatigable songster, the 

 female also sings on occasions, and the fledglings, lined up on a wire, 

 hterally "sing for their supper." To human ears, the keynote of 

 all house finch utterances is cheerfulness. The song suggests hap- 

 piness, and even the notes that express anxiety over peril to the 

 nest have a cheerfully rising inflection. Entirely absent from their 

 vocabulary are the strident bickering cries and harsh scolding notes 

 that are so freely used by many other species. In the words of 

 Myron H. and Jane Bishop Swenk (1928), "The House Finch is a 

 joyous bird, and it expresses its joy in its roUickiug, warbling song. 

 The song itself is not long, but it is rapidl}'' repeated many times, 

 producing a long-continued flow of singing. The song has many 



