96 TEE ZOOLOGIST. 



but this produced very little sound, and he soon gave it up and 

 flew away. 



After about ten minutes both male and female birds appeared, 

 and danced about on the trunk and the branches of the tree close 

 to the hole, their antics being most amusing to watch. Presently 

 the female bird perched upon a horizontal branch slightly below 

 the level of my line of vision, and I actually observed the male 

 bird tread her for some seconds. During this operation the 

 male bird balanced himself by keeping both wings fully extended, 

 and I obtained a particularly fine view of the outline of the wings 

 and their beautiful markings. Fortunately my ambush proved 

 an excellent one, and my presence was entirely unsuspected, 

 although I was so close to the birds that I hardly had occasion to 

 use my glasses. I was particularly impressed by the fact that 

 both birds constantly uttered the peculiar soft twittering notes I 

 had previously described — a kind of whispered sound of pleasure 

 and - satisfaction, as it were, to one another, which was most 

 pleasing to the ear ; while they never once gave utterance to 

 their somewhat harsh, laughing, almost Owl-like cry. 



Two days later I took up my position again at 7 a.m., and, 

 after watching neai'ly half an hour, was amply rewarded, as both 

 birds at length appeared. The male went inside the hole, and 

 disappeared from view ; but presently his head appeared, and a 

 beakful of chips of wood was thrown from the nest and scattered 

 on the ground. He worked away busily, and it was interesting 

 to observe the curious jerk he gave to his head as he disposed of 

 each beakful. 



Sometimes one and sometimes both birds were on the tree, 

 but the female appeared to do no work. When alone she perched 

 perpendicularly on the tree-trunk, and peered into the hole; 

 then she went inside and peered out ; the next minute she was 

 out again, and was apparently testing the hole by going in and 

 out repeatedly, making a careful inspection of her future home 

 both inside and out. On the two following days I again watched 

 the male bird tapping on his pine-wood sounding-board, and was 

 struck by the fact that the interval between each series of taps 

 was longer than when I had first observed it earlier in the month. 

 Another curious thing was that a final tap was added separately, 

 as though one had been forgotten. After this the tapping was 



