SWIFTS, GOAT-SUCKERS, MUNIAS, ETC. 259 



of red ones. One set of them who inhabited a good- 

 sized aviary used often to build great, spherical nests 

 in the shrubs of Panax growing within the enclosure, 

 and would doubtless have successfully hatched out 

 young families, had it not been that the eggs 

 were no sooner laid than they were devoured by 

 some loriquets who were in the same aviary. 

 There are few more quaintly diverting exhibitions 

 than that afforded by a set of munias whilst settling 

 down for the night. The birds all crowd together 

 in rows upon the perches for the sake of warmth, 

 and as every one of them wishes to have a more or 

 less central position, it is long before a final settle- 

 ment is arrived at. Those birds that are towards 

 the ends of each row go on squeezing and pressing 

 inwards until the pressure on the centre becomes 

 so great that one or more of those located there 

 lose their footing, and are violently ejected upwards. 

 The individuals to whom the mishap has occurred 

 at once accept the situation, and, making no attempt 

 to regain their former places, fly off at once to one 

 or other end of the row, and take their turn at 

 crowding inwards until they are once more cast 

 out. Such processes of alternate squeezing and 

 eviction often go on for a long time with clock-work 

 regularity before a permanent arrangement has been 

 established. 



Among the most striking of the small birds 

 that are often to be seen in the gardens of 



