Mr. Wesley T. Page ;



i 16



with hay and a few feathers, was more bulky, ragged and clumsy

looking than the nest of the bird at liberty, but the difference

was only in material.


My data are somewhat doubtful, owing to the birds having

begun to incubate before the nest was discovered, but I think it

may be safely assumed that incubation had but just commenced.

The facts are :—


Nest containing three eggs, discovered on the evening of

June 27th.


Three chicks hatched early morning of July 7th.


Three fully-fledged birds left nest evening of July 17th.


Young birds fending for themselves August 1st.


It would appear that in this country the incubation period is ten

to eleven days; that the young leave the nest when about eleven

days old, and are competent to fend for themselves when about

twenty-six days old.


The newly-hatched fledglings were pinkish flesh colour,

quite naked and very minute. For the first four days they

were fed entirely 011 blight, flies and other small winged insects,

for which the parent birds foraged from sunrise to sunset : on

the fifth day they commenced to feed with small mealworms.

About every two hours I went into the aviary and saw that each

parent secured three, which were first killed and then taken to

their babies. O11 the morning of the tenth day they began to

carry fruit (banana and orange) to their chicks, but still fed with

as much live food as they could capture or I cared to supply.


The eyes of the chicks were open on the morning of the

fifth day.


The parent birds carried the faeces of the young several

times round the aviary, dropping it only when their movements

were obscured by the foliage.


I had a look at the fledglings twice daily, and even with

this regularity there was a noticeable increase in size at each

visit. Paying one of these visits at 7 p.m. on July 17th I found

the nest empty, though at 6.30 I had seen the three gaping beaks

stretched above the top of the nest and all three calling for food.

I could not trace them anywhere, and rather anxiously wondered

what had happened, but early next morning all doubt was dis-



