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colour than the other one. My friend brought nie one 

 of his birds and as soon as I turned it into the aviary 

 all doubts were set at rest, for the new arrival was un- 

 doubtedly a hen. Merrily as the song and dance had 

 gone on before, it was renewed now in earnest, and 

 nesting operations were forthwith commenced. This 

 took place at the back of the aviary in which I have a 

 hedge of pea-sticks, the interstices being filled up 

 with hay. The birds worked, or shall I say tunnelled, 

 their way into the centre of the hay, and generally 

 took a slightly oblique direction, in order I suppose, ta 

 get the nest out of sight. Although there seemed to 

 be a good deal of "carrying" to the nest the construc- 

 tion appeared when finished merely a hole hollowed 

 out of the hay. Just this, neither more nor less. It 

 had noliningof any kind, and as it was made in the hay 

 it looked nothing more than suggested above ; in fact 

 if I had thrust my hand into the hay I could have 

 made a similar receptacle with my fist. I am not 

 aware of the nesting habits of this species in its wild 

 state, but I may say that in my aviary there were 

 numerous nest boxes made of Hartz Canary cages, 

 partially covered with bark, open wood nest boxes, 

 cocoa-nut husks, &c., but on the several occasions my 

 Rufous-tails built, no other place than the hay was 

 used. In two or three days the nest seemed to be 

 complete, and I noticed that the hen was decidedly 

 "lumpy," in fact, I thought she was egg-bound, and 

 there is no doubt this was the case. The next morn- 

 ing, however, she appeared to be all right, and a peep 

 into the nest revealed a small pure white egg, which 

 was the cause of the temporary trouble. I may say 

 here that these symptoms frequently appeared just 



