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30 THE CONDOR Vol. XXI 
identified by the large number of white feathers. She has been divorced for the 
past ten years and is apparently living a single life. 
Many other species and pairs could be cited, but as yet we have only circum- 
stantial evidence on which to base the conclusions set forth in the first para- 
graph. 
Escondido, California, November 15, 1918. 
PARASITISM OF NESTLING BIRDS BY FLY LARVAE 
By O. E. PLATH 
URING the summer of 1913,while studying bird life in and about Berke- 
|) ley, California, I fed up some fifty to sixty wild-taken nestlings which in- 
eluded the following species: California Purple Finch (Carpodacus pur- 
pureus californicus), California Linnet (Carpodacus mexicanus frontalis), Wil- 
low Goldfinch (Astragalinus tristis salicamans), Green-backed or Arkansas Gold- 
fineh (Astragalinus psaltria hesperophilus), Lawrence Goldfinch (Astragalinus 
lawrencer), and Lazuli Bunting (Passerina amoena). In most instances these 
nestlings were taken a few days before they were full-fledged, together with nest 
and surrounding branches. Before being taught to eat by themselves, they were 
fed by means of a curved stick in bird fashion, that is to say not forcibly, but 
by making them realize that they could get food from the beak-shaped end of 
the stick as they did formerly from the beaks of their parents. This method of 
feeding usually extended over a period of from several hours to several days, 
depending upon the age and intelligence of the nestlings. 
After having succeeded in feeding up several broods without loss, I attempt- 
ed to rear a nest of five Green-backed Goldfinches, but despite the fact that all 
five ate readily from the stick, all but one died in a few days . On taking this 
nest of goldfinches, I had noticed that two or three of the nestlings had swollen © 
eyelids, in some cases swollen to such an extent that it was impossible for the 
nestlings to open their eyes. Just previous to this time I had contracted a severe 
case of oak poisoning while roaming through the underbrush in the canyons and 
along the creeks, and thought that perhaps the nestlings might be afflicted with 
the same malady. While feeding them, I had noticed furthermore that their 
mouths were considerably paler than those of the birds which had been fed up 
previously. They also appeared less vigorous and did not.exhibit the same raven- 
ous appetite which healthy nestlings show. Their mouths became paler and paler 
and within two or three days four of the nestlings died, as I have already men- 
tioned, and even the remaining one looked as though it would not lve long. In 
order to keep it warm, I removed it from the nest and placed it in some warm 
woolen cloth. To my surprise I noticed a number of maggots, similar in size and 
form to bumble-bee larvae (about 1.5 em. in length and 0.5 em. in width), erawl- 
ing about in the nest. Upon picking the latter apart, I found some twenty or 
thirty of these maggots. They were creamy white in color and the anterior end 
of the alimentary canal of a number of them contained a bright red substance — 
which changed to a blackish brown color in the posterior part of the intestinal 
tract. The other maggots contained the same blackish brown substance, but not 
the red. 
