Part 1, Chapter 5 Summary

Peter Boag and Laurene Ratcliffe joined the Grants and other scientists in 1977. In previous years, there had been a lot of rainfall on Daphne Major, but this year there was a major drought. Boag and Ratcliffe accompanied the Grants to help them study the fledglings, and if Boag could talk Peter into it, complete an egg switch experiment. However, the study of fledglings and the egg switch ended up being impossible. The ground finches only mate when there is rainfall, and, with no rainfall in 1977, there was no breeding. The cactus finches do not need as much rainfall, so the scientists were able to study some fledglings of that species that year. All of the fledglings died before the age of three months. Many of the adult birds of both groups were dying, too. This episode was very discouraging to everyone...