1S90.] General Notes. C)C 



that is quite pleasing to my ear, as are some ul their expressions of 

 pleasure while feeding or bathing. In all this the female is just as often 

 heard as the male, and her voice has precisely the same power, pitch, and 

 tone. In May I was delighted on one occasion to observe the female 

 receive the approaches of her mate, and I immediately supplied them 

 with the most suitable building materials my mind could suggest, as well 

 as a sheltered forked limb. In a few days the female started a nest of fine 

 black roots, and slivers of cedar-bark. She had about half finished the 

 structure when the male bird deliberately pulled it to pieces, and all my 

 efforts to get her to try it once more, were entirely futile. 



Much to my surprise they both began to moult by the third week in 

 June, and by the middle of July they presented sorry figures indeed. 

 This change I had dreaded for some time, as I felt sure the male would 

 lose some of his original brilliancy of plumage, but as this latter began 

 to come out again early in August, the only change I saw, which was as 

 interesting as it was contrary to my' liking, was a pure white elliptical spot 

 as big as a cherry-stone on the lower third of the outer feather on either 

 side of his otherwise dead black tail. In fact the green of his bodv color 

 came out fully a shade darker. During the middle of August a cat nearly 

 got both of them, and pulled out a great many of their feathers, and 

 strange to say in the case of the male, who lost one of the white-spotted 

 feathers on one side of his tail, when it came again it was as black as a 

 coal all over, so that at the present writing he has the white area onlv on 

 one side. No change occurred in the plumage of the female, who now 

 (October 24, 1889) is in beautiful feather, and one of the most graceful 

 birds I ever saw in a cage. They are passionately fond of small butter- 

 flies and common house flies, and will greedily take either from your 

 fingers when held to them between the wires of their cage. A very 

 curious habit is to be observed, that, so far, has only been indulged in by 

 the male ; sometimes when he is chilled after a shower, and the sun comes 

 out warm and bright, and streams through the cage, he will, standing on 

 a perch, tilt himself way over sidewise, open his bill, close his eves, and 

 fluff up all his feathers until he looks double his natural size, and he appar- 

 ently greatly enjoys the heat of the sun as it can thus gain access to his 

 skin. Since the moult the female has been the master of the cage', and 

 now has things pretty much her own way, but on the whole they are a 

 pretty amiably disposed pair of birds, and give me every reason to believe 

 that they are eminently contented in their confinement; and they are 

 certainly a source of daily pleasure to me, as some of their low notes are 

 very sweet, and the lovely harmony of their plumage never tires me. 

 I look eagerly for the coming of spring, as I still hope that I may get 

 her to breed, or even, perhaps, to lay; and as soon as the season sets 

 in a thoroughly quiet place will be set aside to hang their cage in, as 

 quiet is the great secret of getting native birds to lav and breed in 

 captivity. — R. W. Shufeldt, Washington^ D. C. 



