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temperature; for of over thirty other little birds kept in the

same room through the winter I did not lose one.


During these days of the last male’s illness, the female

had not been allowing the grass to grow under her feet. Before

many days had passed after his admission to her presence, she had

built in a rush nest hung up in the cage, but the four eggs were

clear. Yet another nest did she build, this time in a box, her

mate’s sleeping apartment; but his presence disturbed her, and

the nest with three eggs was deserted, and a fourth clutch of

three was immediately laid in the rush nest where the second

batch had been. But, owing to the sickness of the male, these

also were clear. Both these nests (uncovered) were constructed

by the female without any assistance from the male, and almost

entirely of hay and dry grass.


Two curious little points came under my notice when the

female had completed her time on the last clutch. I was in the

habit of opening her cage when I came down in the morning, and

giving her a call, when she would come out for a fly and other

purposes; but apparently she always remained on the nest until

the door was opened. Even in this, by the waj^ we may perhaps

see a reason why some birds will never rear young in a cage with

a generally closed door. On March 19, the plucky little thing,

once more a widow, came off with something in her bill. For

the moment I thought it must be a piece of shell from a newly

hatched bird, but it was only a bit of hay. Did her instinct

teach her that time was up ! or did she know that time was up

by the second incident ! On the morning following, almost

immediately after being let out, she ejedted some fluid from

the crop, doubtless some secretion of the nature of Pigeon’s

milk, which, owing to the failure of the eggs to hatch, she was

unable to dispose of in a natural manner.


Although these ten eggs had a family likeness, some

differed from others in size, shape, and arrangements and size of

spots, teaching a lesson how dangerous it is to draw conclusions

as to eggs having been laid by the same or different females

according as they may happen to be alike or otherwise ; neverthe¬

less it would be unusual for so many eggs, if laid by a wild bird, to

differ so much, although of course variations are common

enough in the wild state also.


As I did not see any of these eggs when fresh, I am a

little doubtful as to what the normal shades of the colours may

be. The ground colour of some were whitish, of others cream-

white, of others blue-white. The spots and blotches on some



