114 BIKDS 



proceeded to line it, the first precious prize being a new 

 chamois leather ; this was followed by three cleaning 

 cloths, a pair of stockings, pieces of linen, flannel, silk, 

 a newspaper torn to shreds and taken piece by piece. 

 Bright colour was a great attraction, always preferred 

 to white or brown goods. Three days were occupied in 

 building, and the first of five eggs was deposited in the 

 nest the day after it was finished. We waited twelve 

 days after the fifth egg, removed the cushion, and let the 

 nest fall down ; the eggs had previously been taken away. 

 She was very sad, and began immediately to reconstruct 

 the nest from the debris, and when she had finished laid 

 five more eggs. There was a very marked improvement 

 in the construction of the second nest ; it was smaller, less 

 clumsy, much smoother and softer inside. During the 

 time she was on the nest , whenever I came into the room 

 I had to feed her she demanded this attention most 

 imperiously. During my absence she fed herself. 



She has a wonderful treasury on the top of a cupboard 

 of things which she has collected, and which she loves to 

 play with and talk to. No one must go near it, but if I 

 go, every single item is brought to me, and when I have 

 got all she has to give she bows and spreads her wings 

 and tail and cries her very heart out with delight. I 

 have to share her food. The little lady brings me first- 

 fruits before she begins. Her power of hearing is far 

 more acute than ours ; she hears the mail cart every morn- 

 ing long before we do, and is always the first to detect 

 an aeroplane. She hears me immediately I get into the 

 garden and is on the window to greet me. As I write 

 she is on my wrist talking to me all the time. 



MENZIES LAMBEICK. 



NOTE. Nest-building is an instinctive art, and the 

 architecture of each species is true to type. But this 

 " most engaging " bird (the Spectatorial comment) drew 



