THE NESTING HABITS OF THE BAY A. 629 



nesis were tossed ;ibuiu by the wind. Neither can have had any lumps of 

 clay stuck on to them. 



Thus both to-day and yesterday I had seen the two cocks and the one hen. 

 "Was the solitary cock a rejected suitor ? I did not sec the hen fetch any 

 materials. 



Aug. 26. — Both nests have progressed considerably. The passage of the 

 lower one is nearly 3 inches long while in the upper one the egg-chamber 

 is almost completed. There is now a hen at the upper nest and the cock to 

 which it belongs is fearfully excited, he keeps singing and screaming, flapping 

 his wings and snapping the mandibles of his bill, now jumping on to the nest, 

 spreading his wings and singing, now poking with his beak at the hen who is 

 inside the nest, now perching on a branch near by and flapping his wings. Every 

 now and again he makes feints at the cock who is working at the lower nest. 

 On two occasions he actually perched on that nest. This of course was more 

 than the owner could tolerate and on each occasion led to a bit of fight. Once 

 the cock of the upper nest actually had the effrontery to jump on to the back 

 of the other cock. Tiie fights are not of a very serious nature. The combatants 

 close with one another, making a great noise, and then fly away pecking at each 

 other, but they soon separate. Notwithstanding their frequent squabbles the 

 cocks do the lion's share of nest building. 



During the 40 minutes or so I have been watching the birds I have only 

 seen each hen once at the nest, while each cock returned 7 or 8 times with 

 weaving materials. The grass they use is impregnated with so much silicon 

 that when once a strand has been pushed by the bird into the structure of the 

 nest it is not easily pulled out again. So far as I can make out there is no 

 clay in either nest. 



Aug. 27. — The lower nest is practically completed and the cock is working 

 away at another in the same tree (a mimosa in flower). The new nest being 

 about 5 feet from the old one. The former is at present projecting horizontally 

 from the branch and the " handle " or perch is already formed. After work- 

 ing a little at the new nest the cock returned to the old one, and put some fin- 

 ishing touches to it, poking it with his bill in various places. He then flew to 

 a branch near the nest of the other cock (who was absent) and having looked at 

 it for a little he flew to it and wrenched away with his beak one of the fibres 

 that had been worked into it. This he transferred to his own nest ! Four times 

 did he visit his neighbour's nest and at each visit tear away a strand therefrom. 

 Two of these strands he let fall, but the other two he utilised for his own nest. 

 This behaviour seems to have been spiteful for he deliberately dropped two of 

 the fibres he had wrenched away : moreover he attacked the part of the nest 

 that was attached to the branch and thus weakened the foundations. 



The other cock when he returned did not appear to notice anything amiss 

 with his nest. While at work the cocks constantly twitter uttering chirrups 

 somewhat resembling those of the house-sparrow. Occasionally they burst 

 into song not unlike the call of the King Crow. 



