42 BdRQTOLD, .1 Study of the House Finch. [j an> 



trees or buildings with certainty and safety. During and after the 

 summer of L908, there were nine of these boxes attached to the 

 house, all in pretty constant use by the Finches. 



Drinking places or pans are strikingly necessary in Colorado's 

 dry climate, and our birds visit any accessible water very frequently; 

 hence artificial supplies of water have been peculiarly helpful in t ho 

 present investigation. 



The Pinches soon learned that no harm was done to them when 

 the nesting boxes were taken into the house for examination, and 

 soon ceased to fret if a nest was temporarily absent from its usual 



place. Unless constantly frightened or really harmed, these 



birds have short memories for minor disturbances. This is well 

 illustrated by one occasion, when a persistent fluttering in a 



box, located near the writer's sleeping porch, called attention to a 



nesting female Finch caught and entangled in some string which it 



had used to construct the nest, the string having become firmly 

 entangled about the bird's foot. The bird would have perished 



had it not been freed, but in less than fifteen minutes after it 

 was again building as busily as before, notwithstanding the han- 

 dling incidental toils liberation. This occurrence also shows how- 

 well the House Finch lends itself to study. It is not essential for 

 ordinary study that the boxes be taken down daily and brought 

 into the house, as much can be accomplished by inspection with a 

 hand mirror held above the nest. 



Abundance. 



In 1881 when the writer first visited Colorado, Denver was a 



small city of about 30,000 inhabitants, spread over a rather limited 

 area, and built of houses and blocks o( very modest dimensions. 

 The House Finch had, however, already taken advantage of the 

 opportunities afforded by the nooks in. and sheltered projections of, 

 houses, barns, and other buildings, to construct nests thereon. The 

 bird was then only fairly numerous, yet its engaging song indelibly 

 impressed itself upon the writer's memory. In the interval since 

 1881, the multiplication of these birds in Denver has been enor- 

 mous and it seems reasonable to assume that this increase has 



