ORIGMA. 



313 



site resorted to for several seasons, and presumably by the same pair of birds. An unusual 

 nesting-site was one I discovered by seeing botli birds enter with nesting-material into a 

 small chamber formed by boulders on the top of a hill, and away from water. On the 7th 

 October, 1902, a fortnight later, the nest was complete and contained three fresh eggs. 



The scene represented here is reproduced from a photograph I took of a haunt frequented 

 by a pair of Rock Warblers, not far from my house. Beneath the largest of the three rocks 



on the right-hand 

 side is a chamber 

 about six feet high 

 at the entrance, 

 and four feet in 

 width, of which a 

 glimpse may be 

 seen in the small 

 dark acute-angled 

 patch at the junc- 

 tion of the lower 

 and the middle 

 rocks. This cham- 

 ber extends back 

 for about fifteen 

 feet, and has a 

 small exit in the 

 rear; the greater 

 part of the floor 

 is covered with 

 water, and en- 

 tirely so during 

 some months of 

 the year. The 

 roof slopes up- 

 wards, and on the 

 same flake of rock 

 this pair of birds 

 have constructed 

 their nest for the 

 last five years. I 

 did not visit it 

 in the spring of 

 1903, but on going 

 to photograph the 

 spot on the 19th 

 April, found the 

 nest in the usual 

 place, which contained portions of shell of Rock Warbler's eggs, and abundant proof that 

 young birds had been in the nest. At that time, after a comparatively dry summer, there 

 was only a small trickling stream in the creek, but usually in September, when these birds 

 breed, there is a large and rapid flow of water covering the entire bed of the creek. I heard 

 the birds in the neighbourhood while engaged in photographing. 



NESTING-HAUNT OF THE ROCK WARULER. 



