214 Pictures of Bird Life 



All the nests I have seen have been in a sedoe-bush — 

 i.e. a thick, tangled mass of sedge, Avhich ents like a knife. 

 I have never seen one among reeds proper : they are 

 generally on the edge of a little pool, and witliin a foot 

 of the water. Only one has been found over dry land, and 

 this was but a few feet from a pathway leading to a l)()at- 

 house, and contained voimo-. 



The nestlings have the most extraordinary palates I 

 ever saw. A\'hen they open their mouths — as all young 

 birds do when any one approaches them — they may be seen 

 to be most brilliantly coloured and spotted, — far more so 

 than any other ^\\t\\ which I am acquainted. 



The parent-birds, after the young are hatched, are 

 particularly bold and tame, taking very little notice of 

 anybody watching them. It was, in fact, a matter of some 

 difficulty to keep them off the nest when I wanted to photo- 

 graph them on tlie surrounding reeds. Though standing 

 but a yard or two away, I ha^•e had to quite drive them 

 out of it. 



Nearly the whole of one day was spent squatting in the 

 same clump of sedge in which was a nest of six eggs. 

 Here most of the sitting was done by the cock. It was 

 most interesting to watch these charming little birds hunting 

 round a small reed-encircled pool for insects, and to see 

 their graceful postures and elegant nlo^'ements. Their 

 coloration matches admirably the localities in which they 

 delight, and in which alone they are to be seen. The 

 musical note, " Ching-ching," just like a sharply struck banjo- 



