■ 143 



the hen Beiigalese sitting inside and assisting to twist the grass, 

 etc., brought by the other two birds; then they left this and 

 made the one inside the aviary. Helen G. Bromet. 



[I once had a Canary hen in an aviary with two male 

 companions, a Siskin and a Redpoll. She went to nest and 

 brought up two young ones which were unmistakably the 

 the progeny of the two respective males. — Ed.] 



A NEvST OF BLUE TITS. 



Sir, — Having after a good deal of trouble and patient 

 watching at last discovered where a pair of Tits were building 

 under the thatch in a summer house on the tennis lawn, I 

 determined when the young were hatched to let the parents 

 bring them up for me. I therefore put them into a box cage 

 and hung it on a pergola close by. After a vast deal of bad 

 language at me and much fright the mother went in — she is 

 always far braver than the male is. It took me a day to get 

 the cage up into a window, but from that time they fed them 

 all day, and I moved the cage constantly to one room and 

 another, followed by the angry birds. They came right into 

 the rooms and sat on the looking glasses, apparently sleeping 

 there at nights. The young Tits are now able to feed them- 

 selves and are, as I write, flying about ni}- room with three 

 Chaffinches, hand-reared this year, and a Canary and Gold- 

 finch, all having their baths. It saves a great deal of trouble 

 if one can get parent birds to feed under such conditions, but 

 there are not many who will. E. W. Vernon. 



AN ESCAPED CHAFFINCH IN AMERICA. 



Sir, — The following extract from a Western Magazine of 

 Ornithology is not uninteresting : — " On Sunday, March the 

 4th, a Reverend gentleman, somewhat acquainted with local 

 birds, veas strolling around his parish, the historical Presidio of 

 Monterey, California. Suddenly there sounded overhead the 

 familar— to British ears— challenge call, ' Pink, Pink ; ' the 

 Reverend gentleman at once decided this was no ordinary 

 bird, and hastened to secure a weapon ; " (think of a Chaplain 



