on the Nesting of the Pileated Finch. 31


health and plumage we concluded that he must have injured

himself during his rapid flights in the conservatory.


The remaining pair spent the summer in a garden aviary,

but made no attempt at nesting, and were brought indoors for

the winter. This spring we moved to another house and both

indoor and outdoor aviaries had to be taken down and set up

afresh.


The position of the garden aviary is certainly better than

before. It is in a sheltered corner, with the long side of the flight

facing south, while the north side is protected by a thick privet

hedge, boarded behind, the wire being fastened to the fence so

that the hedge is included in the flight. There is a plum tree in

the middle, a laurel under it, and sundry bushes and shrubs

besides.


Moving house is a serious business; it is much more

serious when birds have to be caught and housed somehow

during the process. Fortunately the weather was fine and warm,

and we solved the problem by setting up the out-door aviary

first, catching up the birds by two’s and three’s, driving over with

them as often as possible and letting them straight into the

garden aviary. So it came about that my grey friends among

the rest were put out of doors the first week in Maj^, certainly six

weeks earlier than I had intended to risk them outside. On

Sunday, July 2nd, someone pointed out that there was certainly

a new nest in the laurel bush. O11 Monday I peeped very

cautiously and found that some birds had taken possession of a

shoot which had been topped, and had sprouted out all round

after the manner of a rhododendron when the flower has fallen.


All sorts of odds and ends had been used to fill up the

space between the young shoots—fibre, a scrap or two of paper,

combings from a white Pomeranian (kindly sent me by another

member), fragments of Ostrich feather, and a shaving or two.

On this foundation the open nest itself was made, woven entirely

of fibre (rope untwisted and cut into short lengths). There was

no lining of any kind, and the nest was tiny, barely two inches

across, and shallow. It was well sheltered by the long drooping

leaves of the laurel, but to make all safe I put a covering over

the wire roof just above the bush in case of storms.



