318 
Breeding of the Occipital Bluc-Pic 
July 14. -Body feathers of the rliick well yrown and 
of a rusty j^rey colour; quills burstini^. white patch on head 
well marked and conunencint; at the base of the bill, not at 
the occiput as in the adult. Very soon, however, dark feathers 
appeared on the forehead, leaving this occipital patch very 
similar to that of his parents. The tail was a mere stump of 
quills; bill llesh-pink. 
July 20. — The young bird took his first survey <jf tlie 
world as he >at on the edge of the nest, and soon he was 
stretching his wings so far as the extent of die aviary 
permitted. 
In connection with the rearing of the \oung bird [ 
noticed the folhnving details. The pr;)vider was the male, and 
a busy tinu: he had of it. After he was allowed to feed tiie 
chick, ho would rirst satisfy the young bird, next the hen, then 
make provision for the next meal. His procedure consisted of 
a number of caches, and if any of these were at all exposed, 
the food was covered up with moss or leaves — non.e of these 
cacliei, or larders were forgotten. Any attempt to interfere 
with or too closely inspect their precious youngster caused 
the parent birds to mob me at once and the din they made 
while doing so was terrible indeed. 
The young bird left the nest when three w'ccks old and 
was then very suggestive of a young Magpie. Bill and legs 
flesh-colour ; head and bib grey-black, the latter considerably 
smaller than in the parents; back blue-black; secondaries 
tipped with white; tail two inches long and white; breast and 
under parts dirty white. 
Sometimes the young bird misses his footing in ilying 
to a perch and hnds himself hangmg upside down, and he so re- 
mains howling pitifully like a small child; the freiuied parents 
dance around sweliing the noise which is truly iniernul. 
At four weeks the youngster began to feed, and 011 Aug. 
23rd 1 caught him up and caged him to prevent any inter- 
ference with his parents' further nesting operations— he began 
at once to squawk for his parents, but soon recognised that 
lie must forage for himself. Small earth-worms provided a 
ready solace for his loneliness and a few captive mealworms, 
imprisoned under a watch-glass in the midst of his soft food, 
