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did disappear ; and the parents were much disconcerted. They

evidently knew who the culprit was, and considered how best to

frustrate his plans. Suddenly they set to work to build a canopy

over the nest and for a few days quite separate from it and

unattached, but eventually connected with the nest proper.

Again an egg was laid; and I found it thickly covered over

with feathers, and invisible. When we were youngsters, we

were all keen after birds’ eggs; not a nest could escape our

sharp, well-trained eyes, and the birds had a poor time of it;

and I well remember finding a Long-tailed Tits’ nest in which

the first egg laid was most carefully concealed in a similar way,

and doubtless for a similar reason. As with that nest so with

this, when the second egg was laid no attempt was made to hide

either. On the laying of the first egg, the larger birds had been

shut out from the inner aviary; they were now re-admitted ;

but the covering sufficed to hide the eggs from the unknown

thief; and by the time the fourth egg appeared the nest had

become an ordinary domed affair, shaped like that of a Willow Wren.

However, occasionally I noticed the sitting female creep like a

mouse on to the roof, and stealthily strengthen and repair the

same. At the time I thought she was trying to keep out the

pelting rain; but one day in November I heard the wild excited

cries of the S truth idea f Struthidea cinereaJ, and, rushing out,

found that these two birds, regardless of holly pricks, had

pounced on to the top of the nest, and, frantically tearing at the

structure, were endeavouring to force their way in : they were

too mad to notice the entrance to the nest. I drove them away,

and was surprised to find the tiny mother still on : she had kept

her ground regardless of the uproar and the proximity of her

dangerous foes, who would have torn her to pieces if they could

have caught her. Her bravery and devotion so touched me that

I shut off the large birds, and left her to enjoy a well-earned

peace. Three out of the four eggs were hatched ; but before

the young were twelve days old an exceptionally heavy and

lengthy gale with torrents of rain killed them. Another nest

was then built on the top of the first, and an egg was laid on

December 24th ; but the wet and south-westerly gales were too

much for the birds, who deserted the nest on New Year’s Day.

A new nest, however, was immediately commenced among some

Virginia creeper stems facing N.E., and completely sheltered

from the then prevailing winds ; but, after the first egg had been

laid, observing that the female had had enough of the cold and

wet, and fearing egg-binding, I took her and her husband off to

a large cage in the house, 6ft. long by 2ft. by 2ft. While in this



