Ml rights reserved.] [July, 1917. 



BIRD NOTES: 



THE 



JOURNAL OF THE FOREIGIST BIRD CLUB. 



The Nesting of the White-cheehed Finch-Larh. 



By W. Shore Baily. 



Pyrrliulauda Jeitcotis is a pretty, and fairly freely imported 

 African bird, but, as far as I know, tliey have not previously 

 reared yonnLi- in this country. My pair. althou,£^h they had 

 nested with their former owner, Or. M. Amsler, made no 

 attem])t to do so in my aviaries last year: this year they have 

 behaved better. 



Early in May I noticed the cock chasing" the hen. a sure 

 sign that tliey were tliinking of housekeeping', so on Sunday 

 afternoon. May 6th, I planted a seat near the entrance to their 

 aviary and settled myself comfortably to watch them with a view 

 to locating the nest. Both birds seemed very uneasy and several 

 times came flying in my direction. At one time the hen had 

 her beak full of dry grass, but after watching" theni for more 

 than an hour I quite failed to obtain any idea of the whereabouts 

 of the nest. The aviary is a large one. about 150' x 75', so I 

 decided to take my stand at the other end; no sooner had I 

 done so than the cock bird alighted where I had previously been 

 sitting, and as he did not re-appear I concluded he must have 

 run on to the nest. After a careful stalk I flushed him, but it 

 still took me some time to find the nest. 



When I at last saw it. I congratulated myself that I had 

 not accidentally put my foot upon it. It wason the bare ground at 

 the foot of a willow stump, and not three feet from where I had 

 been sitting" for over an hour. A slight cup-shaped depression 

 had been lined with dried grass and this contained two eggs, 

 very similar in colotu" to those of the English Skylark, but of a 

 much smaller size, 



