Mr. R. Phillipps,



316



stopped by a raid of cats ; the cut faces of both birds were an

eyesore all through the subsequent breeding period.


On May 19, the female recommenced building, this time in

a box that was partially hidden by the top of a lime tree, the

shelter of which, continuously on the increase, must have given

a sense of security to the sitting bird. For myself, I was a little

vicious, and hurled heavy missiles at the invaders during the

quiet of the nights and early mornings, one of which, as good

fortune would have it, lighting on the head of a large nail in a

long sheltering board, not only produced a loud reverberating

report but so respectable a flash of fire that the place, at a feline

council especially convened to consider the matter, was declared

by common consent to be an unhealthy one for cats, and was

abandoned for two or three weeks.


As usual, the female took parts of three days, 19—21, to

construct the nest ; and she commenced to sit on the morning of

the 26th.


On the evening of June 7, I took out mealworms to test

the birds, but there was no response. O11 the following morning,

about 9.45, I again appeared with mealworms, and was immediate¬

ly assailed by the excited parents. The female frantically seized

a mealworm, crunched it up, then a second, a third, a fourth,

crunching up each in succession, and then flew off with the

four to the nest; again and again she returned to the meal¬

worms, crunching them up and carrying them as before, but not

swallowing one. After the hurry and scurry caused by my

tardy arrival had subsided, and the birds had settled down to

their work, only one mealworm was carried at a time; and it

was always held conspicuously in the bill, both by the male and

by the female—there was nothing whatever to indicate feeding

from the crop : the crunched mealworms were carried up as they

were from the very first. Cockroaches, duly prepared, were

likewise held openly in the bill.


As is customary, the parents were unwilling to carry small

insects to their young; but after a little the female relaxed and

took small things, and these she conveyed in the pouch of the

throat ; artificial food she carried in the same wajr.


At the first, the male betrayed hesitancy and uncertainty



