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 1 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, I 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-boschc. Tn this 

 shrub they had already laid 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 llth of 

 October. The second day's labour presented a rude 

 mass, about four inches in thickness, and from five 

 to six inches in diameter. 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 



