316 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1890. 



Almost every picture hanging at an angle from the wall had one. 

 There were several nests in the ceiling, for wherever they found 

 a hole in the cloth, they would keep pecking at it, until they made 

 it large enough to admit them, and as they used the same places for 

 successive broods, adding fresh material each time, they soon made 

 the ceiling cloth unsightly, and once or twice they caused it to give 

 way. 



From a rolled up chick, hanging in the doorway, I thrice took 

 ^ggf-, and even then they would not forsake the nest, and I had 

 to unroll the chick and keep it down. 



A pair built a large nest in the antlers of a sambur in the 

 verandah. 



Another pair made a nest in the soap box in the bath room, ancl 

 although the nest was destroyed several times, they would not desist, 

 and at last from sheer pity, I had to leave them alone. 



The most peculiar case Was when a pair had a nest in a bird cage 

 hanging against the wall, just above where the durzi sat all day 

 working, and close to a door, where people were passing in and out 

 continually ; the door of the cage had been left open, the previous 

 occupant having been transferred to the large aviary ; in this they 

 not only laid four eggs, but actually reared the nestlings, although 

 the cage was frequently taken down to show visitors. Once they 

 nearly lost their eggs, as a boy who was staying in the house with 

 his mother, on a visit, took them out and had them in his possession 

 for some time, before he was found out. I replaced them and they 

 were duly hatched. The fuss the birds made, when their eggs were 

 stolen, led to their recovery. 



A large punkah in the sitting room, which was kept swinging 

 almost the whole day with scarcely any intermission, happened to 

 have a small hole in the canvas, just large enough to admit a 

 sparrow, and in this peculiar place, between the two cloths, a pair 

 decided to have a nest ; they reared a brood in safety, and commenced 

 preparations for another, when they were interfered with by a 

 rival pair, and after a severe contest which lasted several days, they 

 had to relinquish their claim, and give up possession ; strange to 

 say, the}^ pecked a hole in the canvas at the other end of the 

 punkah, and there they reared another brood in safety. 



