Long-tailed Grassfinchcs. 65 



observation, I saw that this nest also belonged to the paired 

 Longtails, but having been so sly and qniet in their actions, I 

 had not noticed them building. It was really too late now for 

 outside success in breeding, but as the weather was mild and the 

 biids appeared to be in earnest, I removed the odd male back 

 to the inner adjoining aviary and left the pair to themselves 

 outside. I saw copulation take place on several occasions, but 

 no real progress was made, except to line the interior of the 

 nest with feathers which the male carried up at every oppor- 

 tunity, until October ist. when an egg was laid, this time of 

 normal shape. 



About this time both birds (especially the hen) were 

 Culling incessantly, their note being not unlike the ordinary 

 c?ll-note of a Bullfinch; the birds were also very restless. 



On October 6th, the egg appeared to have been forsaken 

 so I placed it in my collection and " booked it " as another 

 disappointment. 



To my surprise, however, on October i6th I found 

 another &gg in the nest, and on the i8th two eggs, and then the 

 ben commenced sitting, and she sat closely until November 3rd, 

 when one of the eggs hatched. I noticed that while the hen 

 was sitting, the cock drove all the other birds away from the 

 vicinity of the nest, but did not notice whether the male took 

 any share in brooding the eggs, but I particularly noticed that, 

 after the egg' had hatched, the male also brooded the youngster. 



On November 7th the youngster appeared to be thriving ; 

 i^s skin was of a dark tone, and I noted that the other egg was 

 clear. From the action of the parent birds I could tell that the 

 wants of the youngster was being attended to by them both, 

 but the nest was never left without one or the other of the old 

 bi'-ds being in. They were both sly and suspicious in their 

 actions. 



On the 13th I heard hoarse but lusty sounds while parents 

 fed the youngster, and also observed that the old birds often 

 keenly searched over the ground for food. Up to now, and 

 from the time the birds commenced sitting, they were not easily 

 disturbed ; even when 1 stepped in front of the nest they would 

 sit tightly. 



November i6th : Both parents are now occasionally 



