118 THE USEFUL BIRDS 



seemingly — who had been hopping about near by watching 

 the operation — for a recognition of its work. This was at 

 11 a.m., when it adjourned work till 6 a.m. the following 

 morning. Then one hour's work was given to the nest. 

 During the whole of the time a series of peculiar grating calls 

 was given, and nothing more was done till the sanie hour of 

 the third morning (18th September, 1896). 



The roomy cell of homogeneous plant matter then received 

 the addition of an inner wall of another vegetable material 

 (mainly old withered leaves). The bird now made an altera- 

 tion in the time table, and during the fourth, fifth, and sixth 

 mornings it laboured from about an hour before noon to an 

 hour after, working leisurely throughout the time till the 

 lining was completed. On the seventh day the first egg was 

 laid ; colour, brownish-purple spots and short streaks on a 

 ground of lighter similar shades. The second egg was 

 deposited on the ninth day, and the third egg on the eleventh. 

 On the fourteenth the bird had well set itself to the task of 

 incubation. 



In regular visits to four nests Mr. Graham found the eggs 

 to be laid each forenoon early. The young birds hatched out 

 on the twenty -third day from the time of laying of the third 

 egg, and the young M^ere able to fly on the fifteenth day from 

 the breaking of the shell. The family immediately begins a 

 nomadic life, and the locality of the nest is left to other birds 

 on the morning of the day following that on which the young 

 birds have learnt the art of flying. 



During the time of incubation the sitting bird leaves the 

 nest to feed at early morning and evening, and at night 

 returns with a small feather or some downy plumage, so that 

 gradually the internal layer of its house is completed to its 

 satisfaction. In six nests observed in that district — the 

 Heytesbury Forest — two were lined with the fur of rabbits, 

 the others with feathers. All were inclined, with the entrance 



