62 Bbrqtold, A Study of the House Finch. [j.^ 



Startling: one, for example, will early show a tendency to he a 

 'fighter,' resisting handling, and peeking one's hand, while all the 

 rest in the brood may he quite suhmissive. The color-identifica- 

 tion scheme, hereinafter to he described, often permits one to 

 follow and study a certain bird for some days after it leaves the nest, 

 and has made it possihle to ascertain (hat the young birds feed 

 themselves at least as early as seven days after leaving the nest. 

 though at this time they still follow the parents about, begging most 

 persistently to he fed. Hence it follows that, if a young bird were 

 thrown wholly on its own resources at this time, only five weeks 

 would have elapsed from the hiving of the egg until the embryo 

 had become fully grown and able to shift for itself, this period of 

 five weeks including two weeks of incubation, two weeks of nest 

 life, and one week of post-nest life. It is surprising how large a 

 number of broods will take just about this period for all their 

 members to mature and shift for themselves. The progress of these 

 events seems swift to the writer, inasmuch as the House Finch 

 cannot he considered in any way precocious. 



It has seemed to the writer that those birds hatched last in the 

 brood are not so vigorous as those out first; it is possihle that this 

 notion may have arisen in the writer's mind because the first 

 hatched have a considerable start in growth and vigor by the time 

 the last ones break through the shells. This notion is not supported 

 by the data accumulated by weighing the developing nestlings, if 

 weight he taken as a criterion of vigor. 



The combination of cold and wet is most disastrous to the young, 

 and the writer has often pul them from the ground into hushes 

 during cold rainy nights, covering the overhanging branches with 

 newspapers, giving him the satisfaction of saving several young 

 birds, while those not covered have perished. The young soon 

 learn where the food trays are located and go to them often, stuffing 

 themselves to repletion. 



There is a great deal of difference in the color pattern of the 

 young birds in a given brood, one having the breast and belly 

 markedly streaked with blackish, while in another these areas are 

 almost pure grayish. The hack may exhibit parallel variations. 

 Once all the young in a nest of four were thrown out oi it by English 

 Sparrows; three had died before being discovered, hnt the fourth 



