46 



Corrcspoiidoicc. 



As regards nest formation, unless we had photos of natural nests in 

 siLu to guide us, we could not tell tlie difference. In 19JI two Crimson-crowned 

 Weavers were successfully reared in my aviary, and the nest was a suspended 

 one, in the hollow centre of a larj^ golden privet bush, somewhat as the rough 



diagram herewith. I did not see their eggs, hut half a shell found under the nest 

 was only faintly tinted with blue, but this may be accounted for by the colour 

 fadmg from the action of weather while lying on the ground beneath the nest — 

 the half shell found was the narrow (pointed) end and it was unspotted. 

 My experience with birds in captivity is that nest formation is modified by 

 envh'onment and that they speedily adapt themselves to altered conditions, 

 though in the main the principal features of the wild nest are retained. I 

 have had many suspended Pyronielana nests built in my aviary, not suspended 

 by a short rope as with the Hyphantoniine group, but hanging underneath a 

 swaying lateral branch, the branch pa.ssing through the top of the nest. 



I admit that the naming of birds under the conditions of Mr. C. H. 

 Young's notes is rather .1 matter of conjecture ; still, even now. there appear 

 t'- me to be only three species to fit the colour description he gives, viz : 

 Crimson-crowned. Orange, and (irenadier. and in these three there is the 

 difficulty of e^gg colouration. .\s to nest formation my avicultural experience 

 teaches me, that this might easily be accounted for by the varying conditions 

 Ci freedom and captivity, or perhaps it would be better to write by the 

 character of the living growth they had to use as nest sites. Further, I 

 may say that the bulk of the Pyroniclana nests built in my aviary have been 

 hanging on the underside of lateral branches, as descril)ed over, and those 

 from which young have emerged have been more or less double-chambered, 

 the nest chamber being distinct — those of the unmated being an ovate sphere 



