Manchester Memoirs, Yol. Ixi. (191;), A^^. T- 3 



•such as the wind-swayed palm leaves referred to by Mr. Love- 

 ridge. 



The great interest of Air. Loveridge's observations lie in 

 the statement that the two eggs are glued or cemented to the 

 nesting material — " gummed to the back of the nest," he says. 

 I would call special attention to the words " back of the nest." 



Stark, " The Birds of South Africa "— cont. by W. L. 

 Sclater, Vol. III., 29, 1913) says: " Heuglin (Orn. Nordost- 

 Afrika's, 1869, 145) gives a good account of the habits of this 

 bird in the Upper Nile Valley ; he states that they build their 

 nests in the leaf sheaths, or against the folds of the downward 



hanging leaves of the ' Dom ' palms {Hyphene thebaicd) 



They are untidy-looking objects, and sway about in the wind ; 

 the cup of the nest is not very deep, and it is difficult tO' under- 

 stand how the eggs are prevented from tumbling out. Brehm 

 suggests that they are glued by the secretion to the nest." 



Stark's (or Sclater's) account seems to be taken entirely 

 from Heuglin, but it is an error to say that Brehm " suggests " 

 — Brehm {Jour. f. Orn., 1853. Extra. 95 — not 1854, as in 

 Sharpe's B.M. Catalogue), makes quite a definite statement. 



" They " (the eggs) " stood on the point, and were likewise 

 glued. In some nests young were found, and these also were 

 cemented with the mucilage " (slime or mucus). " Truly the 

 wind, which shakes the whole leaf to and fro, cannot shake 

 them out of the nest. Whether the rest" (the attachment of the 

 young to the nest) " only happens so long as the young carry 

 the down feathers, or usually so long as they are incapable of 

 clinging firmly, and how they later come loose I know not."* 



Comparing Mr. Loveridge's account with this, apparently 

 the first and only accurate description of the nesting economy, 

 and with the illustration Brehm gives of the shape of the nest, 

 which he likens to a spoon, and the position within it of the 

 two eggs — we see that his " stood on the point," and Mr. 

 Loveridge's " gummed to the back of the nest " mean one and 

 the same thing. The eggs are not lying in the shallow cup, 

 but stand on end in it, and are fastened to the upright " back " 

 of the long ladle-shaped nest. 



Brehm found young similarly fixed to the sticky nesting 

 material, but Mr. Loveridge noticed them clinging to the 

 feathers attached to the wall. Brehm's observations may have 

 been of younger birds than those seen by Mr. Loveridge; he 

 may have been mistaken, or the habit may vary. In any case 

 it is most interesting to learn that these unattached young, when 

 disturbed, actually made use of the fragile cup of eggshell 

 which still remained in one of the nests Mr. Loveridge found. 



*My thanks are due to Miss Wigglesworth for this translation as 

 literal as possible. 



