ON COOCIDIOSIS I>f GROUSE CHICKS. 



TDec. 14, 



probably from the fact that rats soon discovered in this nest a snug- 

 shelter of which they were not slow in availing themselves. The 

 nearly-finished nest was deserted and the roof of the shed next 

 chosen as a site for a third nest. 



Here another huge structure, consisting of quite a cartload of 

 sticks and other rubbish, was constructed. But presumably on 

 account of the interference of the Ibises and other birds in the 

 aviary, this was again deserted and a fourth site chosen. 



This time a large nesting-log, fixed twenty feet from the ground 

 in the fork of a dea.d, ivy-covered tree, was chosen as a base on 



Text-fig. 280. 





f M^ 1./^ 



/pr ^.r-'- 



{ *'* ■ ^ 



Nest of Scopus nmbrefta in the Society's Gardens. 



which to construct the nest. From the time it was commenced it 

 appeared to be complete in about six weeks, but the birds continue 

 daily to add to it. It is composed of sticks, cemented together 

 with mud. It measures foin- feet in diameter, is about three feet 

 in height, and the single compartment has an inside diameter of 

 nearly two feet. The entrance hole is five inches in diameter. 

 Curiously enough, so far as I am aware, no eggs have been laid 

 by these birds, although they have been nest-building throughout 

 the whole of the summer and autumn and have frequently paired. 



Dr. H. B. Fantham, F.Z.S., Protozoologist to the Grouse 

 Disease Inquiry, exhibited microscopic preparations and sketches 



