214 The Breeding of the Bearded Tit. 
At the .same time Mr. Page took a very excellent 
photograph of a naturally constructed nest in a group of tall 
ribbon grass. It was cup -shaped, made entirely of broad 
ribbon grass and lined with fine grass and hay. It contained 
four eggs, but, the hen deserted, owing to the door between 
this and the next aviary being left open and allowing strange 
birds to come in. This, and the subsequent driving out of 
the intruders caused the hen to desert. The nest is, of course, 
like the nests found in the marshes and on that account most 
/'ho/n hll E. f). Piujr. 
Nest and e^gs of African White-eye. 
interesting. The w^ay the birds had woven the leaves of the 
reeds into the nest was most clever, and made the nest very 
difficult to detect. This photograph is reproduced in this 
article, as also is the baby Eeedling. 
But little remains to tell. The young l>irds grew very 
rapidly. The parents fed most assiduously, and I placed a 
saucer of food on the floor, with plenty of live ants' eggs on 
the top of the food. On July 18th the young birds were seen 
to |ielp themselves freely to , the ants' leggs. But, alas 1 on July 
16th, I missed the hen and a few days later' found her dead 
