gS On Nesting of the Yellow-rumped Finch.


back of the head, whilst the cock has the upper part of the breast

a much brighter, warmer buff than the lower part—the hen having

a uniform shade over the whole of the breast.


I turned the Yellow-rumps out into the Finches’ aviary

where they at once fraternized with a pair of Chestnut Finches,

and the four birds almost at once went into a heavy moult.


The so-called hen now began to sing, much to my •

annoyance, so I got another from Mr. Hamlyn which I turned

out on 8th May. I at once saw that Mr. Hamlyn was right and I

was wrong, for the hens fought and the original pair built a nest

w T hicli they completed on 16th May.


The nest was situated in a box shrub, about 4ft. from the

ground and 3ft. from the side of the aviary and was exceedingly

well compacted of long stems of freshly pulled grass, not being

lined in any way. It was elliptical in shape, the longest

axis being horizontal, with a small entrance hole at the side. No

eo-o-s however, were laid and the cock transferred his affections

to the new hen, so I removed the original hen.


The new hen laid, in the last week of June, four eggs

which were pure white in colour and sharply pointed at one end.

The hen sat quite at the back of the nest and the cock was

generally to be seen squatting in the entrance keeping watch and

ward. When the young were hatched (three in number) the

Yellow-rumps were exuberant, darting about the aviary with

loud calls of “pink” “pink.”


The 21st of July, was a day of disaster for all my birds.

In the morning I examined the nest carefully and found two

grand young birds quite ready to fly, and one egg. But a tragedy

was at hand. Early next morning I was informed by the

servants that pandemonium had reigned in the aviaries during

night. It appears that several cats had climbed on top of the

roof and had started a panic among the Doves: the cats

had then commenced springing against the wire sides until they

had the whole one hundred and fifty birds flying terror-

stricken in every direction. It was a mournful task collecting

the dead and the dying and the broken eggs. I have never had

a more promising lot of nests than at that time, but, from the



