^°'i", .o^'] Thomson, The While-fronted Chat at Home. 95 



iTratic iiight as Wwy cscorU'd nic to the clump of gorsf in which 

 the nest was hidden, where their alarm was at once manifested. 

 Very often they betrayed their nests by their alarm alone, for 

 they would go through the most amazing antics. Both birds, 

 but more especially the male, simulated injury, and, settUng close 

 to me, would ruffle their feathers and flutter along the ground 

 with every manifestation of the most acute injury, seeming as if 

 they had lost their powers of flight. When these attempts to lure 

 me away proved unavailing, they would fly back to some point 

 of vantage, only to recommence their antics, going through them 

 again and again at intervals. 



The nest, which is open and cup-shaped, is fairly deep, and is 

 composed chiefly of fine grass-stems woven together and Uned 

 with finer grass and horsehair. I do not think that feathers are 

 ever used as a lining material. The nest is usually placed low 

 dow^n, amongst dense herbage. Three eggs form the usual clutch, 

 but I have rarely, if ever, met with more than two well-grown 

 young birds in a nest. The ground colour of the eggs is pure 

 white, spotted (especially around the longer end) with reddish- 

 brown. As the nesting period commences about August or 

 September, several broods may be reared in a season. 



As a rule I found the males a little shyer than the females, and 

 more incUned to the simulation of injury mentioned before. 

 Although both birds feed the young, I have never observed the 

 male to take any part in the cleaning of the nest ; this was in- 

 variably done by the female. The latter, after feeding a nesthng, 

 would sit on the side of the nest and pick any excreta from the 

 lining, and would carry it several yards away before dropping it. 

 It has sometimes been my good fortune to watch this and the 

 feeding operations from a position only about 4 or 5 feet from the 

 nest. Most of the accompanying photographs were taken thus. 

 Sometimes w^hile we were observing the male would sit close at hand 

 while the female, with an insect in her beak, would fly from one 

 point to another, as if uncertain whether to feed the young ones 

 or not. The male apparently did not reassure her, for he would 

 constantly utter his wheezing alarm note as she approached, 

 perhaps varying this programme with his acrobatic simulations, 

 till finally the female overcame her fears. 



One very hot day in December there were two fully-fledged 

 young birds in a nest. The old birds would attempt to call them 

 away from the glowing eye of the camera until I was tired of 

 replacing one of them in the nest. The other bird, exposed to 

 the sun, felt the heat intensely, and the female, although she too 

 felt it acutely — her beak was gaping wide open, and although, 

 on the previous day, she had been very shy — came to the nest 

 and brooded over the young bird. I was able to remain within 

 a few feet, and neither my presence nor the rattling of the shutter 

 seemed to frighten her, although the changing of the slides would 

 cause her to leave the nest for a few seconds. 

 The White-fronted Chat is a favourite foster-parent of the 



