90 THE CONDOR Vol. XXIV 
ity on April 15 of each year. The other is the first song of the Aleutian Rosy 
Finch, at about the same time. Catching the spirit of the birds the lethargie 
shackles of winter are shaken off by the human inhabitants of these islands, 
and the wheels of industry start. The awakening of spring brings much activ- 
ity with it. 
At this time the birds soon seek out nesting sites, and building begins in 
May. The earliest full set of eggs of the Rosy Finch that is recorded was taken 
in May. I have never been able to convince myself that the male bird ren- 
dered any assistance at all in building the nest, incubating the eggs, or rearing 
the young. However, the sexes are so nearly alike that a mistake as to their 
identity could easily be made by an observer of their actions around the nest, 
and the subject needs further study. 
Fig. 32. TYPICAL NEST AND NESTING SITE OF ALEUTIAN Rosy FINCH 
ON ST. GEORGE ISLAND, ALASKA. 
The males spend the greater part of the summer in fighting each other. 
In fact the moral code of this species seems to be drawn up somewhat upon 
Turkish lines, only reversed. Often a female may be seen pursued by half a 
dozen suitors. When the female is off her nest, her mate (or, at least, some 
mate) is constantly close beside her, and, if rosy finches are abundant, many 
is the battle he has to fight. Or, as she feeds along some narrow ledge, two 
contestants for her favors may now and then come tumbling down to the beach 
line, flapping and pecking at each other, their places as attendants being soon 
taken by a third party. 
While nests have been found in old buildings, the favorite site for nest 
building is in some erack or crevice of the precipitous cliffs on the shores of 
