ROSY-FACED LOVE-BIBB. 133 



We may remark in conclusion of the subject, that in default of the 

 peel of green twigs, these birds make use of strips of paper, straw and 

 feathers, with which they construct themselves a nest in the box, or 

 basket they have selected as the cradle of their future offspring. 



This deviation from the general habit of the family of nesting in 

 holes in trees, on the bare wood, is exceedingly curious, and affords 

 scope for abundant reflection: how can the singular habit have origi- 

 nated? probably owing to a scarcity of hollow branches, in default of 

 which the first available receptacle for the eggs and young was taken 

 advantage of, whether Weaver Bird's nest, or some cavity in a rock, 

 so hard that the tender eggs were broken; a sad experience that sug- 

 gested the necessity of making a soft bed for their reception. But 

 why carry the fragments between the feathers of the rump? Yes, 

 why? when a beak was available, and so much better adapted for the 

 purpose? Why indeed! Clearly some deficiency of reasoning power 

 here. Our own Love-birds evinced no tendency toward nest-building, 

 but deposited their eggs in a cocoa-nut husk, with the exception of 

 one Madagascar hen, who carried a few pieces of straw into her husk, 

 whether on her back or not we cannot say; but, as Mrs. Cassirer 

 remarks, "they may have been younger birds, or less conservative in 

 their habits", probably the former assumption is the more correct, for 

 Mrs. Cassirer's hen, which that lady thinks ""is undoubtedly an oldish 

 bird, and has most probably already nested at least once in a state of 

 freedom", made herself a cradle of scraps of paper, feathers and bits 

 of hay, which shows how birds adapt themselves to circumstances : ours, 

 not finding themselves under the necessity of constructing one, made 

 no attempt to build a nest, and our friend's continued the custom she 

 had learned from her relatives in her native woods. 



All the Agapomis family is extremely amorous in disposition, and 

 makes no scruple of pairing with any other solitary Parrakeet with 

 which it may be consorted in an aviary; for instance, we have seen 

 one of these birds mate with a hen Cockatiel more than three times 

 his size, and another with a New Zealand Parrakeet of scarcely less 

 dimensions; whether any progeny would result from such ill-assorted 

 unions we have had no opportunity of proving; for the birds so mated, 

 scarcely matched, did not nest, although they appeared much attached 

 to each other. 



We have also seen solitary male birds of this sub -family endeavouring 

 to attract the attention of females of a totally different genus, as for 

 example a Canary, and a Saffron Finch, which both seemed greatly 

 terrified by the Love-birds'" advances, and could by no means be in- 

 duced to listen to them for a moment: so that we have no doubt that 



