Song Birds and Water Fowl 
colors would amuse the babies. My lady friend 
quickly took the white yarn, with which she 
adorned the upper edge of the cradle, but 
ignored the other pieces ; either having enough 
already, or being too wary to be ensnared by 
their strong colors, which usually in such cases 
are wisely avoided. ‘The nest was finished on 
the twelfth of July, and the first egg was laid 
on the fourteenth, four others following on the 
four succeeding days; quite pretty specimens, 
thickly blotched with dark spots on a ground 
of pale lilac. Among domestic fowls it is quite 
_uncommon for eggs to be laid after mid-day ; but 
the third, fourth, and fifth of this set were laid, 
respectively, at about four, five, and six o’clock 
in the afternoon. Incubation began immedi- 
ately ; and in just thirteen and one-half days I 
saw the five chicks fully hatched, closely packed 
together, all breathing rapidly, and one gaping 
furiously. It is quite likely that they had 
already been hatched a full day when I first saw 
them; but it is very difficult to ascertain the 
exact period of incubation, for the reason that 
the mother-bird remains on the nest quite con- 
stantly for the first few days after hatching, es- 
pecially if the air is cool, as it was at this time. 
Their tiny forms swelled so rapidly that in 
222 
