74 JOURNAL OF MAINE ORNITHOLOGICAL vSOCIETY. 



egg, but the spots are usually most frequent and of greater size at 

 the larger end. Occasionally a freak egg may be found, in which 

 the wreathing is about the smaller end, but such cases are rare. A 

 typical set of four eggs taken at Stockton Springs, Maine, June 6th, 

 measure as follows: .68 x .52, .67X.51, .70X.52, .68 x .51 inches. 

 The largest egg of which record can be found measures .72 x .55. 

 As runt eggs have been known to occur, there is no limit within rea- 

 son to the smallness of freak eggs of this or any other species of 

 small birds' eggs. The average dimensions are very close to those 

 of the set of four eggs given above. 



The female does most of the work of incubation, but on very 

 rare and exceptional occasions I have found the male bird incubat- 

 ing and even engaged in song while on the nest. The time in one 

 case which elapsed between the laying of the first egg and the hatch- 

 ing of the first young bird was two hundred and ninety-five hours, 

 plus or minus an error of an hour and forty minutes. It was not 

 known by me nearer than within some forty minutes of the exact 

 time when the first egg was laid. The first egg to hatch was pipped 

 for some hours before the young bird finally emerged from the shell. 

 The time when the young bird was finally triumphant is not known 

 within two hours and forty minutes, as this period of time elapsed 

 between visits when it was found not hatched and hatched. The 

 period of incubation is thus shown to be doubtless between twelve 

 and thirteen days. 



The natal down rapidly dries and fluffs out on the young birds 

 and is sepia-brown in color. At the end of six to seven days pin 

 feathers begin to appear, and by the twelfth to fourteenth day the 

 young are well advanced in their juvenal plumage and able to scram- 

 ble out of the nest. Two to three days after leaving the nest they 

 are able to assay short flights. I am inclined to believe that where 

 the nest is visited frequently for the purposes of observation the 

 young reach the stage where they scramble out and awaj^ much 

 sooner than were thej^ left undisturbed, but in this latter case one 

 could not make the necessary observations. 



The juvenal plumage above and below has a generally streaked 



