388 FISHE.K, Birds of Laysan Island. [^^^ 



Telcspiza is not particular as to its food, but is fond of the soft 

 parts of grass stems, tender shoots of bushes, seeds, and espe- 

 cially of sea-fowl eggs. I once frightened a tern off her ' nest,' 

 and almost immediately a pair of Finches flew to the egg. One 

 of them cracked a neat hole in the shell with a few strokes 

 of its powerful beak, and began to feed, although I was hastily 

 adjusting a camera only a yard or two away. Nor did the 

 removal of some rocks which obscured the view bother them 

 greatly, for they merely hopped a few feet away and watched me 

 calmly, resuming their repast as soon as I had finished. (Plate 

 XIII, Fig. I.) But suddenly a Rail rushed out of the grass, and 

 with feathers erect made for the Finches in such a determined 

 manner that the pair flew away and left Porzanula sole possessor. 

 The latter lost no time in finishing the egg. (Plate XIII, Fig. 2.) 

 Undoubtedly the finches eat a goodly number of eggs in the 

 course of the season, for this was not the only case observed. 



Their favorite nesting site is in the middle of a big tussock of 

 grass, somewhat nearer the ground than H'nnatione and Acro- 

 cephalus usually build. Chenopodium bushes are also frequently 

 used for we found nests here, as well as in grass clumps bordering 

 the open near the lagoon — a location very popular with all the 

 land birds. In each instance, in the latter case, the nest was 

 wedged in the center of a tussock, well hidden by tall grass stems. 

 It is constructed of handy materials, such as rootlets, twigs, and 

 coarse grass, and the whole is rather loosely put together. The 

 shallow cup, 2f inches in diameter, is lined with shredded grass. 

 The position and character of the nest is shown in Plate XII. 



There are three eggs in a complete set, although we found some 

 nests with only two. A fairly typical specimen is bluntly ovate, of 

 lustreless white, with small blotches and spots of light sepia and 

 lilac gray, crowded toward the larger end, and very sparingly 

 present on the acute half. Sometimes the spotting is distributed 

 evenly over the whole surface. There is much variation in size 

 and color. A typical example measures 24 by 18 millimeters. 



The finches were so unsuspicious that I had little difficulty in 

 securing photographs of them at the nest. The reader must 

 remember that none of the various precautions usual in bird 

 photography were here taken. The camera was within a few feet 



