P ABBOT BUILDING IN THE OPEN. 3 



down and fastened it ingeniously to the elbow of the stack-pipe, 

 which gave increased stability, but made a bend in the tunnel 

 necessary. The whole structure was now seven or eight feet 

 long, and nearly three feet across at the lower end, and with this 

 the bird seemed content. 



Thinking it a pity that it should not have a chance to breed, 

 we looked out for a mate for it in the summer. There was no 

 possibility of telling whether it was a male or a female as it was 

 flying about, but we argued, from its nest-building industry, that 

 it was a female, and got what was said to be a male, and, catching 

 our bird at night in its tunnel, we put the pair into a cage. They 

 agreed very well, but showed no signs which could certify that 

 they were male and female. Soon we let them both fly, and, 

 though they would keep together, the new one never offered the 

 slightest assistance in carrying sticks or building, though the old 

 one began to add a good deal to the existing pile. It is note- 

 worthy that it never used any but the prickly twigs of the hawthorn 

 as long as the hedgerows were bare, but when the leaves came 

 on the hedges it would have no more to do with them, but betook 

 itself to the hazel pea-sticks in the farm-garden, and bit off the 

 topmost twigs. Some of these were visible near the spout-elbow, 

 and many more on the roof-tiles. But, though the new mate did 

 not work, he did a good deal of mischief, for he picked off the 

 small green apples from the orchard-trees, and dropped them on 

 the ground in such numbers that we were obliged to catch him 

 and shut him up ; and, lest he should have taught this trick to 

 the old one, about which we were uncertain, for we could with 

 difficulty tell them apart when loose, we caught and caged them 

 both until such time as the apples should be big enough to defend 

 themselves. But, alas ! a rat got in one night and killed the new 

 mate. We set the other free, and no more apples were plucked. 



In the autumn we noticed that the Parrot took longer flights, 

 sometimes going a distance of a quarter of a mile, and often 

 joining a flock of Starlings, with whom it would alight and 

 apparently feed in the park or on the lawn, and fly with them to 

 the big trees ; but it never went off altogether. It passed another 

 winter (1901-2) safely, and was again surprisingly active in adding 

 to, and, we thought, rather spoiling, its nest, changing its door- 

 way again, and making it as seen in fig. 2. It would fly up to 



