IN BIRD LIFE IN AN AVIARY 145 
the back branches of a low elder bush planted 
init. (It is quite a rare occurrence, I believe, 
for these birds to nest in captivity.) He had 
placed a piece of wire netting there as a foun- 
dation for a nest so as to entice any of the 
birds to choose the spot for building. The 
hen (not the cock, notice) constructed the nest 
in a peculiar way. Books on birds tell you 
thate1 15 ‘built of “ fime mbres and rootlets.’ 
She had plenty of hay and fibre supplied for 
her use, but she ignored these, and set to 
work and stripped the bark piece by piece (each 
piece being five or six inches long) from a 
dead and half dried-up bush placed in the 
aviary as a perch, rending them. as thin as 
coarse bristles. These fibres were of a yellow 
colour being the inner bark or bast. (Her 
strong beak was well suited for this.) With 
these she formed the foundation of the nest, 
but twined in some thin sticks as well. She 
worked the whole into a beautiful open cup- 
shaped nest, and lined it with some dog’s hair 
combings from Ted’s retriever also placed in 
the aviary. Of course I photographed the 
B.N,—Il, L 
