^°'uM^'] ^^«i^'i'<»"' l^omestic Habits of the Spotted-sided Finch. 23 1 



difficulty in getting such a long, unwieldy piece home. If there 

 is any breeze it is very difficult, and I have s(;en him having a 

 fearful- struggle to reach the nesting-site with it. ()ne pair built 

 their nest entirely of asparagus .sprays. They built their nest 

 in a fruit tree just beside the asparagus bed, and the lazy little 

 male simply descended into it for all his material. 



My especial pair of Finches were very amusing to watch. The 

 male bird would bring a piece of material and would often have 

 to wait a long time before the busy Uttle lady weaving inside the 

 nest was ready to take it from him. He seemed to get very tired 

 of this waiting game. Sometimes, as mentioned above, he would 

 give voice to a protesting note and drop the piece ; sometimes he 

 seemed to think he would take a hand — or, rather, " bill "—in 

 building himself, and would attempt to weave his piece into the 

 nest, but he always did his bit of weaving on the outside, and the 

 little lady, if she emerged in time to catch him at it, never failed 

 promptly and scornfully to drag it out again and haul it inside 

 the nest, bundUng him most unceremoniously out of the way, 

 and even trampling over him without the least compunction if he 

 did not move aside quickly enough. I could plainly see by her 

 impatient and scornful attitude that she was saying, " My dear, 

 I wish you would attend to your own department and leave the 

 home-making to me ; what do you know about it, anyhow ? " and 

 the small male bird would hastily— and, I am sure, apologetically- 

 fly away and bring another piece with obedient despatch. At 

 last a very brilhant idea seemed to occur to him, and if she was 

 not ready for his material when he arrived he took to placing it 

 very carefully in a fork of the rose-branch, just outside the nest, 

 and flying off for another, and so soon had quite a Httle collection 

 of pieces ready for her ladyship's selection. She seemed to approve 

 of this arrangement, too, and would emerge and seize a piece from 

 the pile and drag it backwards into the nest whenever she needed 

 it. She seemed consumed with a veritable fever of house-building. 

 Sometimes httle master, arriving with a specially fine piece of 

 flowering weed and finding the lady of the house safely occupied 

 within, could not resist the temptation of weaving it on to the 

 outside, and if he accomplished this feat without her coming out 

 and demolishing his work, he seemed to consider it with the most 

 comical air of pride and delight, and would sit on a twig and 

 admire it, head on one side, till, her Uttle ladyship coming bustUng 

 out, he would fly off hastily to attend to his. providing duties 

 again. We used to stand and watch him — my maid and I— 

 with the greatest amusement, and hoped he would get time to 

 finish his bit of house decoration before she came out and caught 

 him. 



The main part of the nest grew in bulk and thickness, but the 

 " spout " was left quite sketchy till the very last. Unfortunately, 

 I had to leave home for a few days just before it was finished, 

 and w^hen I returned there was a most complete and compact 



' spout " to it, through which they were carrying large feathers. 



