54 MATESHIP WITH BIRDS 



In my experience, the best year for Lalages in 

 Victoria (of recent times) was 1910. The sensitive 

 birds were in no way misled by the passing menace 

 of heavy snowstorms which occurred in various 

 parts of the State as late as the second week in Oc- 

 tober, and, on the beautiful mornings towards the 

 end of that month, I found them nesting freely in 

 the Pinus insignis of a public park. The only safe 

 period to fraternise with the birds in that area was 

 shortly after sunrise; for the Nature-study move- 

 ment has not stamped out the primal collecting in- 

 stincts of all small boys, and the trouble was that 

 the ecstatic Lalages did enough towards betraying 

 their nests without any human assistance, however 

 unwitting. 



It is a rash bird one whose joyousness over- 

 comes its discretion that sings while on the nest. 

 Were it not for such amiable lapses, and the fact 

 that the bright-colored male bird takes part in the 

 brooding as well as the building of the home, the 

 nest of this species would rarely be discovered. 

 Neatly woven of soft, fibrous material, it has much 

 more of protective coloration (particularly when 

 placed in a fruit-tree) than those of the Wood- 

 Swallows, and, moreover, it is so remarkably small 

 that the wonder is how the babies manage to find 

 sufficient accommodation. The eggs, usually two in 

 number, are much like the pretty, green, brown- 

 spotted eggs of the Yellow Robin. 



In that same year (1910) I had three nests of this 

 cheery prattler under observation in an old bush- 

 orchard. One was built in a cherry-plum tree, on 

 the identical site where a brood had been success- 



