406



Correspondence, Notes, etc.



near the seed pan. It looked like a large blue-bottle fly and we could not

imagine what it was. It was not a little Fire-fincli, nor a Bib-finch. It was

too small for a Cordon Bleu,


“ We tried to find the nest it had tumbled from, but in vain ; so I

placed it on some cotton wool and left it, hoping its parents would look

after it. It was still alive but cold and miserable the next morning. I

warmed it and tried to give it a drop of milk, but it would not open its

beak and it lingered on till the afternoon and then died.


“That same afternoon I saw another little mite hopping and chirping,

but I then succeeded in finding its nest where an egg and another nestling

were snugly hidden. I put it back and it stopped there for the night.

Next morning the two nestlings were on the ground again and I found it

no use to replace them in the nest, for they only tumbled out again, so I

put them in a quiet corner and after a while the parents went to look at

them.


“The parents are a cock rhodopyga and a hen grey astrild. The nest¬

lings have a rusty red band across the wing, white gapes, and though the

beak is small there is a great length from the scalp to the beak. They wag

their tiny tails and are now beginning to fly. The feathers are not fluffy

but rather oily which retards their flight.


“ The egg is white and small. The nest is built of grass neatly woven

into a large ball, over which other equally large balls are placed : perhaps

several pairs take apartments in the same house ? They do not build in

bushes, but on the ground in a corner; and if possible behind a bush, or a

broom, or any hiding place. This particular nest was built on a shelf under

some heather and leaning on a nest-box. I hope the young birds will live,

and wonder if the) 7 will have black beaks like the father or red ones like

their mother. The little mother has her breast nearly bare of feathers,

whether from sitting or from pluming herself to garnish her nest I do not

know.


“I thought this report might interest you and perhaps it would

interest Mr. Pliillipps. I have found a dead nestling of unknown deriva¬

tion and a fine black egg of the size almost of the paddy bird’s and don’t

know where they came from, unless it belongs to the Passer luteus."


I felt sure Mr. Pliillipps would agree with me that it would be selfish

to keep these breeding-notes to ourselves, for I am satisfied that they will

be equally interesting to others.


A. G. Butler.



NESTING NOTES.


Sir,—M y Bib-finches have nested and have brought up three young

ones. They had no bib at first, but now they are not distinguishable from

their parents. My little Amaranth finches have also successfully brought



