32



Mrs. Howard Williams,



In this wee nest lay a large white egg, so large that at first

sight I wondered if by chance the Diamond Dove had laid it,

and I wondered still more what would happen if many more

eggs were laid. Next morning a second had appeared, and the

following day there was a third.


As the nest could not possibly have held another egg it

was as well that the bird seemed to consider that she had

enough. Even then I was not absolutely certain as to what

birds the nest belonged, they were so clever in slipping on and

off without being seen.


The first egg was hatched by the morning of July 14th,

and the other two followed 011 consecutive days. By that time

there was 110 doubt as to the parentage of the nestlings, for both

Pileated Finches came eagerly for mealworms, the hen alwa3^s

first, as soon as I appeared in the morning. The hen also liked

soft food, but I do not remember seeing the cock take any. The

young birds were naked/except for a few patches of down : they

were dark in colour, and very large. They grew and feathered

fast, but naturally there was a good deal of difference in size be¬

tween the oldest and youngest. As there was a tremendous rain

on Sunday, July 23rd, I did not go into the flight, only putting

the food as usual into the house. On Monday I went in fearing

the little ones might have suffered and to my distress found

the youngest thrown out and quite dead. It had very long and

strong legs and its wing feathers were well advanced, but other¬

wise it w r as not very forward, and I fancy it was a case of the

weakest going to the wall, or in this case, to the ground. On

looking into the nest I could see only one young bird, the

middle one, and at once I began to seek for the eldest fearing it

might also have joined the majority. Just as I was giving up the

search for the supposed corpse I saw a small grey object exactly

the colour of the earth on which it sat, very still, but very much

alive, watching my movements with its bright eyes. It was

evidently the missing baby.


It seemed to be fully feathered, there was no trace of down

left on its head, which was dark grey, and the principal sign of

its extreme youth was that it had not a vestige of a tail. It

could flutter strongly and I tried to catch it and replace it in



