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cage, neither bird betrayed the very smallest inclination to nest;

their hearts were evidently in their old home in the wet, cold,

raw garden.


About the middle of February, wanting their cage, I

returned them to the garden ; they flew straight to their last

nest, and immediately set to work to put it in order. This one

had been built with a dome from the beginning, and differed

considerably from the one in the holly tree, being shaped like

that of the Common Wren, especially as regards the aperture.

Notwithstanding the leafless season, it was admirably concealed ;

the Struthidea and other birds never found it, excepting only

the Bower-bird, who was removed. The young were hatched ;

but on March 17th I found them all dead—the consequence of

the incessant cold and wet. Once more the poor birds paused in

order to reconsider the situation. They had outwitted the Bower-

bird, diddled the Struthidea, and outmanoeuvred the south-west

wind; but the ceaseless, pitiless rain had been too much for them.

What was to be the next move ?


Now, although there were many husks and boxes of

various kinds scattered about their aviary, and one in the cage

they had occupied when in the house, not one of these had they

ever entered or visited : even as sleeping-places, all these had

been ignored ; the natural trees and bushes alone had had

attractions for them. But things were not as the}'- had been in

Australia; the seasons, somehow, were all topsy-turvy; and

other arrangements would have to be made. Nothing would

now satisfy the Zebra Finches but an abode in some artificial

structure, and under the shelter of the house if possible,

notwithstanding that, at that time, they were cut off from the

house excepting from sunrise until such time as I let the

majority of the birds out of the bird-room, i.e., until S.30 a.111. or

later, according to the weather. Morning after morning they

collected a quantity of nesting-material on a little sheltered

ledge at the entrance to a barrel fixed against the side of the

house, and day after day it was scattered to the winds by the

Bower-bird. After a while, I confined them altogether to their

own aviary, and there they went house-hunting, but here also

now only in sheltered artificial structures ; most of the nesting-

places were given up one after the other because they seemed to

be too well known, or coo near to the favourite perches of the

old Chinese Blue Pie, who just then had to be placed with

them. Eventually, they fixed on a spot in the very roof of

the aviary, where, indeed, there was a shelter but little more, so



