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as in the adult bird, indeed, beneath the tail it was quite bare of

feathers.


It was most amusing to see the joy and pride of the

parents; they stood in front of the little creature, jerking their

tails with pleasure, and evidently exchanging congratulations

with each other on such a remarkable infant prodigy. The

young one received their adulation very calmly ; it slept that

night upon the floor, but by the next day had climbed up into

the branches. It was evidently partly fed on seed, as some

white millet was plainly visible in its crop. The old birds fed

it from the crop in exactly the same way as Canaries feed their

young, first working up the food in the throat, before transferring

it to the young bird.


The next day, finding a Bronze Mannikin inclined to peck

the young Lavender, I caught it, and also the hen, and put them

into a large cage, meaning to also secure the cock ; this I failed

to do, and the old birds so fretted at being parted, that I had to

let the captives out again. While I had them in the cage, I

examined the nest to see if there were any more young birds in

it, as if there had been I had meant to cut out the nest from the

branches, and fix it in the cage, (this was of course before I

abandoned the idea of being able to catch the cock). I found a

young bird, its crop quite empty, dead in the nest. It was very

plump, and nearly the size of the other bird, though the

plumage on its head was not so developed, and the bill and feet

were pinker than in the elder nestling. I think the poor little

thing must have died of starvation the day the joiner was in the

aviary. Later on, a third young bird, about the same size, was

found in the branches ; it had evidently been dead for some time,

for its body was quite dry and hard.


On October 13th, the little Lavender had mounted quite

high up in the branches. It could fly the length of the aviary,

and sat pluming its tiny wings with great satisfaction, and

amusing itself with nibbling the ends of the gorse twigs.


O11 October 24th, the old birds began to build a third nest,

near to where the first had been. I had purposely given them

no fresh material, (for it seemed unwise to let them nest again

though both birds seemed perfectly well and strong) but they

began stealing it from the other birds’ nests, so I was obliged to

give way, and provide some. After I had done so, the work

progressed rapidly; by the evening of the next day, the nest,

(which was the same shape as the second one), was thickly roofed

over, the favourite material being asparagus bass, cut about three



