388



Mr. Reginald Phillipps,



scraggy holly, some four feet above the ground, but on the

following day they stopped work:—the nest had been appropriated

by a Crimson Finch. With much difficulty I succeeded in eject¬

ing this slim, evil-tempered bird from the aviary, and also two

other “ objectionables,” and on the 16th had the satisfaction of

seeing that the Mesias had returned to duty. On the 19th, once

more they commenced sitting — and stopped on the 25th. I

examined the nest and found it quite empty ; but both birds had

sat well, and I am certain that there had been eggs. Who was

the culprit ? A few days later I detected the female Violet

Tanager slipping out of the Yellow Sparrows’ nest; and then it

flashed across my mind that on several occasions I had seen this

pair of “innocents” hovering about the other nests. To remove

a Violet Tanager is a simple matter ; one has but to take away the

banana, and within a couple of hours it will follow you like an

old ewe when one has her lamb in one’s arms, so they were

quickly disposed of; and the Mesias were not afterwards dis¬

turbed in the same way. This nest was practically suspended

from three branclilets of the holly, of about the thickness of a

pen-holder, which jutted out at an angle of some 45 degrees, to

two of which it was securely lashed. It was constructed of

grasses, very fine inside, with a few pieces of dead Virginia

creeper outside.


Nest No. 4 was commenced on July 26. This one was

built at the near end of the aviary, close to the general aviary, in

which there are birds of many kinds, some of them detested and

feared by the Mesias, who nevertheless deliberately set up house

thus close to them. Every evening these birds retire to the bird-

room, in which they are shut up that they may not disturb the

morning slumbers of my unsympathetic neighbours. But the

Burrowing Owls are then loosed; and one of the favourite

perches of the old male is close to the Mesias’ nest. Moreover,

while the Mesias were sitting, the two baby Owls were growing

their flights, and, when loosed of an evening, their favourite

playground was a mound opposite the nest, on and from which

the} 7 would spring into the air again and again, trying their new

wings, and sporting about, full of youthful vigour and play, a

charming sight to behold—but liardty an attractive one to a



