4 Transactions of the South African Philosophical Society. 



the nest, the female climbs up in the nest as far away as possible 

 from the entrance, and there she keeps perfectly quiet until the 

 danger is passed. I have noticed the same behaviour in the 

 young ones. The imprisoned birds, therefore, in the first place 

 rely for protection on the fact that the nest is not easily recognised 

 as such, but I have noticed that the birds can give a good account 

 of themselves with their strong beaks when actually attacked. 



I may mention that if the hollow of the tree passes a long 

 distance below the slit through which the food is passed, it is 

 either filled up with soil, bits of wood, &c, or, as stated before, 

 a platform is put in. The result aimed at is always the same — 

 namely, the female must always, when sitting, be able to reach the 

 slit with her beak. This, no doubt, facilitates the feeding process, 

 and besides, it enables her to deal a surprise blow to any snake or 

 small mammal which might try to force its way into the nest. 



The time during which the female is imprisoned I estimate at 

 about seven to eight weeks. It is certainly not less than six weeks. 

 The eggs are laid near Grahamstown at the end of December or 

 beginning of January. There are usually three, but in one case four 

 young birds were found in one nest, so that evidently the number 

 varies. The eggs are pure white. 



The question naturally arises as to who closes the nest. Is it 

 done by the male or by the female, or have they both a share in it ? 

 Further, What is the material with which the nest is closed up in the 

 ordinary cases ? For a long time I held with Livingstone and Mrs. 

 Barber that the male imprisons the female, and unfortunately even 

 now I cannot decide this question from direct observation of the 

 building operations. But when I handed the female belonging to 

 the first nest I received this year to our present taxidermist, Mr. M. 

 Irniger, he called my attention to the fact, that her beak was smeared 

 pretty well all over with the same cement which was used to close 

 up the entrance in the nests belonging to type No. 1, and to fasten 

 the pieces of aloe stems to the walls of the nest belonging to type 

 No. 2, in order to form the lower portion of the ceiling as described 

 before. It was evident, therefore, that the female had access to this 

 cement, whatever its nature and origin might be. 



As all the nests which had come under my observation were 

 remarkably clean, and as sweet smelling as a bird's nest can possibly 

 be, I had often thought that the female might use her own excre- 

 ments as a cement, but as the latter w T as so very unlike ordinary 

 excrements of birds, I had not given serious attention to this suppo- 

 sition, and believed w T hat I had been told by some people, that she 

 throws her excrements with some violence through the slit which 



