78 The Oologists' Record, December i, 1921. 



foundation of dry stalks, stems, etc., but the upper part more like 

 a Goldfinch's nest of greyish-green dry flower and plant stems — 

 the usual soft lining." (c) " Untidy, and chiefly composed of 

 cotton-wool and plant-down, interwoven and strengthened with 

 plant stems, fine dead grass and flower-heads. Usual lining." 

 {d) " Nest chiefly composed of, and entirely lined with, great lumps 

 of hare's fluff — more like a nest of Par us major." {e) This last 

 I am about to describe was the most curious nest of all, and I 

 find it hard to offer an explanation. It was typical Greenfinch in 

 construction and placed barely 4 feet above the ground in a bushy 

 orange tree near the edge of a grove. But from some distance off 

 its large size and somewhat flatness of shape attracted my attention, 

 and it appeared to be more suited to a Bulbul than a Greenfinch- 

 Judge of my astonishment, then, to find two fresh Bulbul's eggs 

 (Pycnonotus capensis xanthopygus) and one very hard-set Green- 

 finch's eg^. All the eggs were warm, and the sitting bird, which 

 must have quietly disappeared, was evidently a Bulbul, as I have 

 never seen this species sitting in its nest ; while the Greenfinch sits 

 exceedingly tight, and will hardly fly away till one's outstretched 

 hand has almost touched her, and even then she keeps up a mournful 

 twitter from a tree or the ground only a few yards away. In this 

 case I can only come to the conclusion that a Bulbul appropriated 

 the nest of a Greenfinch and altered it to suit its own needs ; but 

 why did it contain the Greenfinch e^^, which would have hatched 

 out after a few days if I had left it ? Nests, though placed in any 

 part of a tree or bush, are generally fairly well concealed, and are 

 just as commonly found in the centres as well as along the edges 

 of groves, but never more than one nest will be found in the same 

 tree or shrub. 



The following are the internal measurements in inches of some 

 nests examined in 1918 : — 



2o X 2o X Ir 



'2 ^^ ^^2 '^ -^4 



■1 

 -2 



-4 



^ 8 

 2j X 2j X I 



2 X if X I 



2| X 2^ X I 



2| X 2 X I1 

 2j X 2|- X I 



