Nesting Habits of Tockus melanoleucus , Licht. 3 



correct. On the contrary, I have evidence to show that at all events 

 the female takes an essential part in the plastering up of the entrance. 



The nests which I have seen may be conveniently divided into 

 two types. The majority of them were formed in the hollow of a 

 tree which was naturally closed above and below, a hole on one side 

 leading into it through which the female could enter (page 5, fig. A). 

 This hole is plastered up by a kind of cement, in which legs of 

 beetles, grasshoppers, hard wings of insects, broken bits of shell, 

 bits of wood, &c, are recognisable. There is, however, always a 

 narrow slit left (about ^ inch wide and 4-6 inches long) through 

 which the male feeds the female. One of the nests (page 5, fig. B) 

 received last year had two such holes, both of which were plastered 

 up partially in the same fashion. The second type of nest (page 5, 

 fig. C) was found in two perpendicular hollow stems of Euphorbia 

 grandidens, which resembled big chimneys and had no large hole 

 at the sides. One of these was examined by myself before it was 

 removed. 



The stem showed several cracks, one of which was utilised by the 

 birds in the same manner as the slit in the cement found in the first 

 type. The female had to go into the stem from above, a distance of 

 about 10 feet, before it reached this crack. Just below this crack 

 a platform had been constructed on which she could lay her eggs 

 and incubate. It was only a few inches thick, but seemed to answer 

 its purpose exceedingly well. I do not know how it was constructed, 

 as I did not remove it, but it was evidently made by the birds them- 

 selves. About 3 feet above the crack a ceiling had been put in by 

 the birds, consisting of pieces of the stem of an aloe glued to the 

 sides of the stem and covered with bits of wood, moss, &c. This 

 ceiling appeared to be perfectly watertight, as it had been raining 

 hard just previous to my visit to the nest, and yet the latter was 

 perfectly dry inside. The finished nest of this second type is almost 

 exactly like the first — namely, it forms a cage with a narrow open- 

 ing, but it will be admitted that its construction requires an amount 

 of sagacity on the part of our bird which is almost unparalleled. 



The female shortly after entering the nest begins to moult. 

 Sometimes she goes through the moulting process so vigorously 

 that at one stage she is almost naked, while in other cases she 

 does not lose the majority of her old feathers until after she has 

 left the nest. The female is, especially when she has lost many 

 of her old feathers before the new ones have appeared, unable to 

 fly, but otherwise she is by no means helpless and weak. She is 

 usually very fat while she is in her prison, as the male bird brings 

 her food every few minutes. As a rule when any danger approaches 



