137 Journal R.E. Johnson 1969 July 3 Anchitha Island, Alaska (cont.) but she may have removed them more often. flights directed away from me when leaving the nest would not allow observation of the fecal sac & about 1/3 of the flights were in that direction. In the four cases observed she flew away with her load and landed with it, rather than dropping it while in flight, a procedure common to rosy finches. I have heard young birds chirp only once in my many visits to nests. On that occasion my presence near the nest set them to stretching their necks & chirping before we actually were in visual contact. On a few other occasions they have been observed to stretch their necks & peep for a moment when being handled. Usually when handled they sit quietly with legs tucked up against their bodies & can be turned over, etc without the slightest struggle or noise (unusual in my experience with birds). Rosy Finch nestlings for example make much more noise when fed & struggle more at all ages when handled. They crawl out of a nest or hide their heads when being approached. Perhaps the "frozen" appearance of these ground nesters is important to survival as a ground nester as opposed to rosy finches who are out of reach of most predators. I noticed the same freeze reaction displayed by the Snow Buntings in nests