182 MATESHIP WITH BIRDS 



March, but, judging by the behavior of the birds, 

 there was no indication of young near the end of 

 that month. 



Any further history attaching to that nest can be 

 told briefly. 



"In accordance with the suggestion contained in 

 your last letter/' wrote Mr. Jerrard early in May, 

 "I opened up the nest on April 24th, there being no 

 longer any doubt that it had been deserted. The 

 enclosed photographs show the result of that inves- 

 tigation. I was careful not to touch the eggs before 

 photographing them. They had not been disturbed, 

 but seem to be all addled. One was punctured and 

 the contents dried up ; another I broke, and found it 

 to contain nothing but stinking fluid. No embryo 

 seems to have developed in any of them." 



Then follow these notes, taken on opening the 

 mound: "The entrance tunnel is about nine inches 

 long and one and a half inches in diameter. It en- 

 ters the nesting-chamber at the top and to one side, 

 so that the eggs cannot be seen or touched from out- 

 side. The nesting-cavity is roughly circular, about 

 15 to 18 inches in diameter and eight inches high in 

 the middle. The light, honeycomb material in which 

 it is excavated had not been carried outside (as in 

 the case of the harder material through which the 

 tunnel is bored), but lies at the bottom, forming the 

 bed of the nest, on which the eggs lie. There is no 

 other material whatever. The floor of the nest is 

 lower than the ground outside. The eggs, five in 

 number, are white, with a pinkish tinge, and 

 measure -9 in. x -8 in. Both ends are shaped nearly 

 alike. They rest under the centre of the mound. 



