THE CAPOCIER. 91 
and even seemed to recognise him in the adjacent 
thickets as he passed along. ‘The breeding sea- 
son,” he goes on, “had no sooner arrived, than I 
perceived the visits of my two little guests to be- 
come less frequent, though, whether they sought 
solitude the better to mature their plans, or whether, 
as the rains had ceased and insects became so abun- 
dant that my titbits were less relished, I cannot tell, 
but they seldom made their appearance for four or 
five successive days, after which they unexpectedly 
returned, and it was not long before | discovered the 
motives that had brought them back. During their 
former visits they had not failed to observe the cot- 
ton, moss, and flax which I used to stuff my birds 
with, and which were always lying on my table. 
Finding it, no doubt, much more convenient to come 
and furnish themselves with these articles there 
than to go and pick the down from the branches of 
plants, 1 saw them carry away in their beaks par- 
cels of these much larger in bulk than themselves. 
“* Having followed and watched them, I found the 
place which they had selected for constructing the 
cradle which should contain their infant progeny. 
In a corner of a retired and neglected garden be- 
longing to the good Slaber there grew, by the side 
of a small spring beneath the shelter of the only tree 
which ornamented that retreat, a high plant, called 
by the colonists of the Cape Capoc-bosche. In this 
shrub they had already Jaid a part of the foundation 
with moss, the fork of the branches chosen for the 
reception of the nest being already bedded there- 
with. The first materials were laid on the 11th of 
October. Thesecond day’s labour presented a rude 
mass, about four inches in thickness, and from five 
to six inches indiameter. This was the foundation 
of the nest, which was composed of moss and flax, 
interwoven with grass and tufts of cotton. 
‘I passed the whole of the second day by the side 
of the nest, which the female never quitted from the 
