The PelopaBus 



family in the neighbourhood of the nest 

 where they receive perhaps the strongest of 

 all impressions, the first dawn of light. I 

 took Pelopaeus-nests which I had collected 

 more or less everywhere during the winter 

 and fixed them in different places, in my 

 present house, which, judging by the sum 

 total of my observations, I considered suit- 

 able, notably at the entrance to the chimney 

 both of the kitchen and of the study. I put 

 some in the embrasures of the windows, 

 keeping the outside shutters closed to obtain 

 the requisite sultriness; I stuck some to the 

 dimly-lighted corners of the ceilings. It 

 was in these sites of my choosing that the 

 new generation was to hatch when summer 

 came; it was here that it would settle: 

 at least I thought so. Then I could ha\e 

 conducted in my own way the experiments 

 which I had in mind. 



My attempts invariably failed. Not one 

 of my charges returned to the native nest; 

 the less fickle of them contented themselves 

 with brief visits, soon followed by a de- 

 parture for good. The Pelopaeus, it ap- 

 pears, is of a solitary and vagrant disposi- 

 tion: save in exceptionally favourable cir- 

 cumstances, she builds a lonely nest and is 

 quite ready to change her locality from 

 67 



