fledged. I am wondering if it is too much to hope for another 



six ! 



The Zebras have been a disappointing pair; have made 



several nests and then pulled them to pieces. They have now 



partly lined a cocoa-nut husk, and I had a peep yesterday and saw 



some eggs. I fancy, perhaps, that the restlessness on the part 



of the Zebras is owing to a continuous feud with the Crimson 



Finches, and I shall have something curious to say as to this a 



little later. 



The Canaries were disappointing. Two nests and only 

 one young bird. 



The Crimson Finches come last, but for general interest 

 and for attractive appearance I have found them far and away 

 the best worth watching of all my birds. They are never still, 

 but are perpetually waging war with their fellow captives, and 

 when mealworm time comes round they manage, by sheer impu- 

 dence, not only to have first go, but also to rob the others of the 

 " crumbs they have picked up from the rich man's table." Un- 

 like the other Finches, their method of devouring these dainties 

 is to take them to the branch of an old apple tree in the flight, 

 and keep the right claw on the mealworms while they eat them 

 up. Now for their nesting operations. 



They took possession of a Canary breeding box which was 

 fixed high up under the roof at the back of the house. The out- 

 side of the nest was made of moss and the inside of dried grass 

 and what feathers they could pick up. In due course the hen 

 took to the nest and apparently never came off during the period 

 of incubation (at any rate I never saw her), but the cock bird fed 

 her on the nest, and as far as I could see, principally with meal- 

 worms. I noticed one morning both birds were off, and from the 

 exceedingly satisfactory noises that proceeded from the nest 

 when the hen bird returned to it, I was satisfied that at any rate I 

 had bred Neochmia phaeton. All went well, and the clerk of the 

 weather remaining in his most obliging mood, with day after day 

 of absolute summer, I was one morning rejoiced by the sight of 

 two small brown birds about the size of L,oug-tailed Grassfinches ; 

 the day after, another two made their appearance. These young 

 birds — unlike the Long-tails and Rufous-tails, which were as wild 



