230 Norton, Domestic Habits of the Spotted- sided Finch. [,,f''^prii 



scant ceremony, and pulled it backwards into her retreat and 

 began to weave it into the branches with a great deal of energetic 

 jumping up and down. 



I was able to watch the whole building of that nest. At first 

 I had to observe them only through the closed glass window. If 

 I appeared at the open window they would at once fly away and 

 perhaps not come back for hours ; but after a while they seemed 

 to get used to my presence, and would go on happily with their 

 building whilst I sat in full view in the open window. One little 

 bird — I presume the female — did all the building, whilst the other 

 — ^presumably the male — did all the carrying of materials. He 

 was most energetic and indefatigable. He would arrive with a 

 long trailing piece of stuff and perch on the same twig every time, 

 where he would patiently sit holding it dangling from his bill till 

 the little lady deigned to come and take it. Sometimes he got 

 very tired of waiting, and would open his little bill to give voice 

 to a long protesting quaver. Of course, the piece of grass would 

 at once fall to the ground, but I never once saw him pick it up 

 again. He would put his little head on one side and observe 

 the fallen piece with a contemplative air as though wondering 

 if it were worth while bothering any more about it, and would 

 then fly away and bring a fresh piece. After a while there was 

 quite a pile of dropped and despised pieces Uttering the verandah 

 beneath the nest. The httle hen did all her building from the 

 inside. To begin with, she outhned the whole nest, spout and 

 all, with roughly- woven grass and weed stems. She left a round 

 space at one side just opposite where the little male perched with 

 his building materials, through which she drew in the trails of 

 material, always holding them by the extreme end and going in 

 backwards, and hauling the material after her. Once inside she 

 seemed to g(_) round and round and jump up and down and bounce 

 about with much energy. As the whole nest grew and became 

 more and more sohd and opaque I could not see her at all ex- 

 cepting when she emerged for more material, but her busy 

 jumpings and bouncings inside the growing structure jerked the 

 whole rose-branch and kept it in agitation. I observed that the 

 male bird brought nothing but green, growing material. He 

 would fly out into the orchard, where grass and weeds grew tall, 

 and would select a suitable piece, nipping it off near to the ground 

 with his sharp Uttlc bill and tugging at it till he got it free ; then, 

 holding it by the extreme end (the bitten-off end), would fly off 

 with it, the long piece of material streaming out behind him as 

 he flew. He was particularly fond of a tall, soft weed with a 

 yellow, dandehon-like flower, which is very plentiful here — in 

 fact, the nest was built almost entirely of it, yellow flowers and 

 all. He also brought long stems of seedy grass (never just grass- 

 blades). I have also observed them using long trails of a Uttle 

 creeping weed with smaU red berries that trails about over the 

 ploughed ground in the orchard. The small bird nips and tugs 

 at the stem till he gets it cut through, and then often has much 



