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on the Nesting of the Black Tanager.



of the aviary evidently house hunting. The male bird was con¬

ducting the hen round, calling her attention to various desirable

sites and especially to the euonymus. The lady, however,

seemed somewhat peevish ; “ the situation (she was evidently

saying) is positively horrible—so overlooked ; no, I could not

think of it.”


However, ultimately she changed her mind, for, on the

14th of June, I witnessed a most amusing little episode. The

Black and Tans were darting about the aviary in a state of great

excitement. They kept on plunging into the euonymus bush

and finally the hen settled 011 a nest box hanging on the wire

netting just above it. The male bird darted away and returned

with a stem of dried groundsel which he flourished in the air

and then deposited at her feet—only to be tossed away. He then

produced a stick which she also contemptuously rejected. He

then dashed into the euonymus and, breaking off a large shoot,

laid it in triumph before her. But this was quite too much for

the lady’s patience : she flew at him in a royal rage and drove

him screaming round the aviary. Evidently in the Tanager

community the feminine sex has got beyond the suffragette

stage : it is the male sex which humbly craves a vote—and does

not get it!


Next morning I provided some hay, and in two days’ time

the nest was completed. It was placed in the thick privet hedge

but quite at the top, so that from above it could be looked into

without the least difficulty. It was a very good nest, firmly

woven, unlined, and almost as deep as a Reed Warbler’s. When

the hen sat in it only the tip of her tail could be seen.


The first egg was laid (and incubation commenced) on the

17th. Another egg was laid on the 18th, and the third and last

on the 19th.


At first sight the eggs looked very like those of the com¬

mon Thrush, but on closer examination they could not possibly

be mistaken for those of any other species. The ground colour

is a delicate cream ; the shell is very thin and china-like; the

shape is nearly a true ellipse and, in addition to the irregular

black spots, there are a few fine wavy lines—in fact a beautiful

and unique egg.



