146 Stray Notes of the Season. 



as. though yoimg have undoubtedly been reared in captivity, 

 they have been unobserved successes, and I wished to have the 

 pleasure of recording a fully observed success. One of these 

 pairs supplied the next episode. They constructed a nest of 

 hay, grass-bents and fine rootlets ; it was exactly similar to what 

 we are accustomed to see in the country-side in every respect, 

 except that it lacked lichen, none of which I supplied; in all 

 other respects it was a replica of one I took from the raspberry 

 canes on my holding. They were very secretive in their opera- 

 tions, and the nest was completed and one egg laid before it 

 was discovered; five days later it contained four eggs, and 

 incubation had commenced. The nest was placed in a mass of 

 Polygonum creeper, two feet below that of the Cape Turtle- 

 Doves. lucubation lasted thirteen days, when four lusty young 

 fledglings were observed in the nest — all went well for four 

 days, but on the night of the fourth day there was a terrific wind 

 storm accompanied by torrential rain, and when I made my 

 visit to the aviary at 9-30 the next morning two dead fledglings 

 lay beneath the nest, and two dead in the nest — they were 

 well-grown and well-nourished for their age. 



The nest was then deserted, and I am assured that botli 

 pairs now have nests, but I have not discovered them amid the 

 wild tangle of bush and convolvulus. 



Next I saw one of a pair of Mealy Redpolls carrying 

 bricks for Redpoll castle, but the chosen site was not the final 

 one. for the home was not completed; but I have since seen 

 them carrying nesting material into a wild tangle of creeper 

 and bush, so presumably their home will be completed there — 

 may be it already is. 



So far as I am aware Java Sparrows. Silverbills, Pekin 

 Robins. Violet-eared Waxbills. and various weavers have not 

 seriously built as yet, though some of them may have young 

 hidden among the tangled growth. 



Owing to a series of mishaps last summer my collection 

 of parrakeets consists mostly of odd unmated birds. 



By the kindness of Mrs. Reed I have secured a mate for 

 my Blue-fronted Amazon {Chrysotis aestk^a), and one of them 



