6 4



Mr. R. Phiixipps,



Chera procne (a species which has never yet been adequately de¬

scribed or figured), flying loose in aviary and birdroom along with

the Regents and perfectly well known to them. This spring I

secured two supposed females which, with the best male, a mag¬

nificent and very strong bird with an unusually full tail, I trans¬

ferred to the reserved aviary on May iS. The delight of the

male was unbounded, and words fail to describe his pride, his

arrogant vanity, his glorious display. A stiff wind was blowing

which he faced like a boy’s kite, as a Gull or a Rook takes a gale,

rising and falling, sideways and slantwise, advancing and retreat¬

ing, up and down, in and out, dancing hither and thither, here

and there and everywhere as, with twelve long streaming and

snake-like tails, black saturnine body so weirdly striped above,

shoulders two blazing flames of fire, with unwearying pertinacity

he unceasingl}' pursued the Regents like some incarnate fiend.

The inmates of the aviary were panic stricken ; there was a wild

rush, a frantic dash, a sickening crash, a shapeless heap of bat¬

tering wings—and with something akin to a choking in my

throat I bore to the house in a firm grip the convulsing body of

the female Regent. She recovered from the fit, and was returned

to the others on June io; but the shock to the system had been

great,—and .there was an end to her nesting for the time being.


The larger female, to whom this male had made advances

during the previous autumn, was at once placed in the reserved

aviary. Last December she had endeavoured for a few days to

hide in a large woodstaclc and remain out all night in the cold,

apparently under the influence of some breeding impulse. In

the early spring I had noticed her more than once flying about

with a twig in her bill: when bower building I do not see them

flying* with a stick; they gather the sticks on the ground and

carry them to their destination by a succession of hops. She

wished to build in a secluded spot which I had prepared with

great care, but the trees so cunningly planted and arranged more

than a year previously failed to come up to expectation in the

matter of foliage and left the spot slightly exposed from one

point, and the Regent, after frequently inspecting finally rejected



* This mid-November, the eccentric second female lias been carrying sticks on the

■wing to another bower of some kind which she is building - single handed, the male

looking on and making love.—R. P.



