328



Mr. R. Phillipps,



of course white, were of a much elongated pear shape, and, in

this respect, different from those of either cana, piillai'ia, or

roseicollis :—but the shape may be an idiosyncrasy of this par¬

ticular female and not a typical one of the species. The eggs of

the other Lovebirds in my collection are roughly as follows:—

The Madagascar Lovebird, one specimen, an ordinary oval egg,

but with the two ends practically equal in thickness ; the Red¬

faced, ten specimens, larger, a few ordinary oval, but most of them

of a thick, bulky, roundish oval ; the Rosy-faced, ten specimens, of

the same character as the last named but larger. The eggs of

the Black-cheeked Lovebird were, I should suppose, a little

larger than those of the Madagascar species ; probably they were

laid on alternate days.


The nest is in an ordinary trade nesting-log, externally

twelve inches high without the top, which I had removed. It is

placed upright, and reaches to the roof, at the back, of the “house ”

inside which it is placed'; but, as the roof is a sloping one, there

is just sufficient space to allow of a bird to creep in at the open

top; there is also the usual aperture high up on the side of the

log. The diameter of the circular inside of the log, measured

across the mouth, is just about 5J inches.


When I peeped into the logon June 23, I found a substan¬

tial but quite open nest. Immediately below the side aperture,

and reaching up to it, there were a few upright sticks. As I sup¬

posed at the time, and have since found to be actually the case,

one of the motives, doubtless the primary one, for the placing of

these sticks in this singular position was that the}'- might serve

as a ladder to enable the sitting female to climb quickly out, so

as to be ready for immediate flight 011 the approach of danger ;

for the inside of these old-fashioned logs which have been

hollowed out with a lathe is very hard and smooth, and offers no

aids to climbing ; and so to enable her to get in gently, and to

escape rapidly, some assistance was needed. At one time I

supposed that the sticks were placed in the log for the purpose

of making the circumference smaller, but this is unlikely. In

addition to the sticks, there were stalks of various kinds, some

spray millet, a little hay, and a good collection of chawed chip-

pings, which seemed to form a sufficiently comfortable nest—and

probably a sanitary one.



