On the Pied Rock- Thrush.



318



the dead bodies of the other two were picked up later. Of the

latter, one must have died in the nest, unless it had been carried

out prematurely. The other was much better feathered, and may

have perished after it had left the nest from the cold and wet; and

this is the more probable as it seems to have come down into

some wheat-grass a foot high just before a prolonged downpour

of thunder rain ; could it but have reached the path it might have

been all right, if we may judge by the survivors who were so

strong on their legs.


At first it was the custom of the young to squat, face up, on

bare ground, from which they were not readily distinguishable;

a thousand persons might have passed close by without observing

them.


The elder bird, a supposed male, was on the wing on the

26th, went to roost on a perch 011 the 28th, and took to the trees

on the 30th. The other, a very secretive creature, perhaps a

female, was first seen to fly on the 30th. Both love to lie on the

corrugated iron roof of a low shed, as it were on a warm rock,

basking in the sun. Both have taken to the trees ; an adult bird

of this species has never been seen in a tree here; do these

youngsters, reared amidst trees, intend to develop into tree-

lovers?


Books tell us that the Pied Rock-Thrush often rears two

broods in the year. As on former occasions, as soon as the young

were hatched the male commenced to prepare another box for

breeding, which the female often visited and seemed to accept.

At one time I thought she must be laying a second clutch, and

was not surprised that she should be leaving so much of the

feeding of the young to the male. But the pursuit of the female

by the male became more and more savage, and at length I could

not hide from myself that he was hunting her viciously with

intent to murder, and at last, on July 3, with much reluctance, I

transferred her to the adjoining aviary.


We need not go far to seek for the cause of this change of

face. That the birds had arranged for a second brood is clear ;

but time had not been standing still, and the season of moult was

at hand. Moreover, my notes tell me that the pairs break up

pretty soon after this. The female fell into moult rather earlier



