219



seemed so anxious to perform his duties to the young, fluttering

up with food in his beak against the glass partition, almost

refusing food himself, that I with some diffidence put them

together again. This was a bad move, for the virago attacked

her husband with such violence that he sustained serious injuries

on the head, chiefly I think in his efforts to avoid her dashes,

and though I got him out as soon as I could, he pined away and

died the third day, to my great regret. Fortunately this quarrel

did not divert the female from her duties, and she continued

diligently to feed the young. On the 28th July, (26 days after

the young were first heard) one of the young Rollers left the

nest. It could perch and fly well from the first; and two days

later another appeared. For about a week the young returned

to the log to sleep ; and it was some time before I liked to

examine the nest hole. When I did there were no more eggs

left unhatched, as I expected would have been the case; but

there was so much rubbish in the hole, the excreta of the young

never having been removed, that other unfertile eggs may have

been crushed up, and not seen.


Inside the cavity there was a slight covering of rotten

wood ; but though the parents had been occasionally seen with

material in their beaks, nothing that could be called a nest was

found when the log was taken down to be cleaned out.


The young were surprisingly active, when they left the

nest, and soon began to feed themselves. They are much paler

in all their tints than the parents, and at this age might easily be

distinguished, even on the wing, from the adults. Anybody

who feels interested in these birds may see them in the Western

Aviary at the Zoological Gardens, where they have just been

deposited ; as in view of a possible brood next year, I thought it

well to send them off, and to replace them by an adult male,

which has been for some time well taken care of for me at the

Gardens in Regent’s Park.


BREEDING OF THE RUFOUS-TAILED GRASSFINCH.


(Bathilda ntficauda).


By Alfred E. Nicholson.


My experience of this delightful species is very limited,

and only dates back to last Autumn, when I succeeded, after

years of waiting, in procuring a pair from one of our members.

They were in perfect plumage, but to the experienced eye it was

evident the cock was not robust. They were exhibited at our



