510 THE BIRDS OF MAINE 



occur, there is no limit within reason to the smallness ef 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 

 incubating 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 hatching 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 doubt- 

 less 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 four- 

 teenth day the young are well advanced in their juvenal 

 plumage and able to scramble 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 away much sooner than were they left 

 undisturbed, but in this latter case one could not make the 

 necessary observations. 



The juvenal plumage above and below has a generally 

 streaked appearance. Above, the centers of the feathers are 

 blackish, edged with drab and yellowish brown; below, much 

 the same general appearance, but far lighter with coloration 

 and with a pale yellow color on the abdomen ; wings blackish, 



