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the female Pusilla. L,ater, however, when his cage was filled

up with winter immigrants and the time of his opportunity had

passed, he seemed to have developed in a feeble way a sort of a

liking for the gentle Cuban maiden.


In course of time I placed male No. 2 with the female ;

and he at once commenced nesting, but was not encouraged

either by myself or his mate. Occasionally I would let her loose

in the room to get up her strength, and then she displayed an

extraordinary avidity for the flies in the window. Taking the

hint, I added a few of the tiniest cockroaches to her food ; but

day by day, as her strength increased, her craving for the insects

died away ; they had done their work, however, for the health of

the bird had marvellously improved.


All this time the male had been busy carrying hay up to

the top of the window curtains, and had been unceasing in his

endeavours to persuade it to remain in the open space between

the top of the curtains and the wall; but his efforts to build

without a foundation were not rewarded with success, and

resulted only in a great litter on the floor.


In the hope that a nest might be managed before the

winter, both birds being b}' this time comparatively strong, I fixed

a little box close by where he wanted to build, but he wouldn’t

look at it. I then placed a wire cup on the edge of the box, and

in this an open nest was quickly constructed. Then, and not

till then, did the female betray ai:y interest in his proceedings.

She flew up to and inspected the nest most critically, but, to the

intense mortification and disappointment of the tiny architect,

condemned it as unsuitable, and would not look at it again. All

over the room the poor little fellow hunted for a likely spot, but

fora time in vain. Occasionally he would slink up to the nest,

as if to try and soften her obduracy, but to no purpose—her

heart was as hard as a nether millstone.


In the bay window there were two eucalyptus trees ; and

just about this time I brought in a third, placing it more inside

the room than the others, for the birds seemed a little afraid of

our quiet street and its occupants, the latter consisting mostly of

nursemaids with their charges and the cats, all of whom were

over-fond of stopping to have a look at the “ Dickie-birds.” In

this inner eucalyptus tree, over seven feet high and fairly thick,

the male tried hard to build a nest, but could not get the

materials to hold ; probably a “ Christmas Fir” would have been

more suitable. I then fixed a wire cup in the tree, in which he

quickly built another open nest. On October nth, the female



