than that of the real owner of the nest, and of a dirty white,

blotched in the form of a ring round the obtuse end with purplish

and greyish brown. These Cuckoos are known to generally

deposit their eggs in the nests of Passer arcuatus .”


I obtained a pair of this handsome Sparrow in the Autumn

of last year (1900) ; they were excessively wild at first and always

tried to hide away in any corner they could find, and I ex¬

perienced considerable difficulty in inducing them to show them¬

selves sufficiently to enable me to sketch them, as they would

crouch in the corner of their cage, usually one on the top of the

other, and nothing would induce them to stand on their perch in

a natural position.


Early in April I transferred them to a wire enclosure some

twenty feet long by twelve feet wide, planted with a few shrubs,

and containing a fair amount of shelter. In this they banged

about a good deal at first, but soon appeared to get used to their

surroundings, and quite content with their lot in life; in fact, so

reconciled did they become that within a month they were

seriously contemplating nesting in earnest.


There was a wooden box about nine inches square with a

hole in the front, hanging to the wall, sheltered from the weather

by some galvanized iron sheets above, but in no way hidden

from view. In this a nest was built, composed of sticks, straw,

and other rubbish, a cup-shaped depression being formed at the

farther end, which was lined with feathers. I had noticed that a

quantity of material had been taken into the box, but the birds

were so shy, and appeared so absolutely unconcerned, and as if

nothing was farther from their thoughts than serious breeding,

that I thought probably this was merely a comfortable nest for

them to sleep in. I am generally absent from home all day, and

can only visit the aviary in the early morning and evening ; at

such times both sparrows would invariably be as far from the

nest as possible, and I little expected that it contained any eggs.

My suspicions were however aroused on May 19th, when, having

a free afternoon, I hid myself in a corner of the aviary and

watched its inmates. The Sparrows, I at once noticed, were un¬

usually active in hunting apparently for live insects. They

would occasionally visit the soft food dish and pick out the ants’

cocoons, then away to the nest one of them would fly, soon to

return for another dainty morsel, when the other would fly off to

the nest. The fact was now perfectly clear that the nest con¬

tained—not eggs—but young birds. I could see that the food

supplied did not quite satisfy the pair ; they would scatter their



