on the breeding of the occipital blue 2oie. 369


the presence of young birds and found one chick obviously just

hatched, it was flesh pink in colour and had no down ; there was

also one egg' in the nest, the third egg having disappeared. On the

following day the second chick hatched out; this would make the

time of incubation about sixteen days.


It was many days before the male was allowed more than a

peep at the precious chicks, which were carefully brooded by the

mother. She willingly accepted the scores of mealworms brought

by the male and promptly transferred them to her nestlings. All

food was carefully torn up, swallowed and regurgitated.


On July 3rd both chicks showed feather tracts and were about

equal in size. On the 4th there was only one chick in nest, but he

was quite twice as large as on the previous day (my notes say “ Has

he swallowed his brother?”) I believe that the dietary I was

supplying was hot sufficient and that the parents broke up one

nestling to feed the other. Anyhow, from that day on, I economised

my precious mealworms and supplied sparrows, frogs, and large

earthworms, and all went well. All these various foods were dealt

with entirely by the male, who, as I have said, swallowed the requisite

amount, which after a time he transferred to the hen. I noticed

that this food was often retained for 10-15 minutes before being

given to the nestling, it was by that time partly digested and no

doubt in a very assimilable state; anyhow the youngster thrived

apace, and on July 10th he was like a huge grey slug, quills well

grown, eyes still closed. On the 12th the resemblance to a porcu¬

pine was quite striking : general colour grey, quills black and two

to three inches long, eyes open, bill large, flat, and horn-coloured ;

in size he was rather larger than a missel thrush.


At or about this date the male bird was first allowed to feed

the chick and his duties now appear to have been doubled as he

would first satisfy the young bird, next the hen, after which it was

his duty to make provision for the next meal. This he did by

establishing a number of caches ; these would be under stones behind

one of the feeding dishes, or perhaps on some ledge in the frame

work of the aviary. When the selected spot was at all open, he

would hide the tit-bit by covering it either with moss or a few

leaves. Unlike many other examples of this habit, with which



