Nucleus laminaris (NL) is a third-order auditory nucleus in the avian brain stem which receives spatially segregated binaural inputs from the second-order nuclei magnocellularis. The examination of the development of dendritic structure in NL revealed a number of events: In the initial period of dendritic growth (E 8--9) there is no gradient of dendritic morphology or apparent size. Starting about E 9--10, there is a spatiotemporal gradient of proliferation of numerous fine dendritic processes, from rostromedial to caudolateral, corresponding with the morphological lamination of NL, and possibly with the onset of cell death. This is followed by a spatiotemporal gradient of the elimination of the overproliferated processes, from rostromedial to caudolateral possibly coinciding with the cessation of cell death. A result of the spatiotemporal gradients of dendritic process proliferation and elimination is a spatial gradient in the morphology (extension, branching) of the remaining "mature" dendrites. At E 15 there is only a slight spatial gradient of total dendritic size across NL; this gradient is larger at E 19, and by P 25 there is a 13-fold change in dendritic size from rostromedial to caudolateral. Regression analyses suggest the size gradient begins to form when NL activity becomes driven by cochlear activity, at about E 14. The progressive formation of the size gradient is largely the result of two factors: the growth of dendritic trees, and the loss or primary dendrites. The growth rate of the dendritic trees of NL cells was found to be very highly correlated with the intensities of the sound frequencies to which the cells respond. From E 15 to P 25 there is a 50% loss of the "mature" primary dendrites of NL neurons. The separate dorsal and ventral dendritic size gradients seen at E 15 realign to coincide at E 19, and the moderate correlation of dorsal and ventral dendritic sizes seen at E 15 and E 19 is significantly increased at P 25, indicating a developmental process of sharpening in the relationship of the dorsal and ventral dendritic organizations in the nucleus. The data suggest that a key element in the regulation of dendritic size and structure in n. laminaris may be the activity of the afferents to the cells.