BrcrdiiKj oj the Jncarbii Finch. 2-1 .) 
ill tlin Spring of 1906. The lien was brought over I)y jMr. 
E. W. Harper for our esteemed Editor, who, having lost his 
male, very kindly presented her to me last summer. She has 
been in England at least three years, and until quite recently 
was ])rol)ably the only hen in this country. 
The .lacarinis did not take any [)articular interest in each 
other last Hummer, and although the iicn occasionally cari-icd 
piece- of hay about, no nest was built. I took them indoors for 
tii(> Winter, and the male, after his moult in addition to his 
usual out of colour plumage, in which the feathers of the back 
are tipped with brown, and those of the sides and lower part of 
the breast with greyish white, he acimired a pure white chin 
patch, which he still retains and whi(di is prol)ably a sign of 
old age. 
I tui'ned them both outside again in mid April, and dii! 
not take any particular notice of them until the middle of May. 
When I perceived that the cock was very excitable, and sav- 
agely drove every other bird from an isolated busli in the 
centre of the grassed portion of the aviary. It now occurred to 
me that they had lieen on more friendly terms for .some time, 
and that I had notii-ed that they often both Avent in a sneaking 
sor: of manner into the long grass at the bottom of the bush, 
but I thought their object was the grass seeds. However my 
suspicions were aroused on May 19th on seeing the hen stealth- 
ily descend into the grass and remain there for a considerable 
time. I went to investigate, and she flew off an artfully con- 
cealed nest, containing two eggs, at the foot of the bush. The 
eggs are large for the size of the bird — white, spotted and 
blotched with dull red, the markings being larger and more 
numerous near the large end, where they form an almost un- 
broken zone. As two eggs only were laid in this nest T was 
unable to determine the incubation period, but, as later events 
will show, incubation most have commenced on the morning 
of the discovery of the nest. For the first few days the hen 
was rather a nervous sitter, she afterwards sat more closcdy. 
only coming otT to feed, when the cock would go to the nest 
to look aft-er it until she returned. On one or two oi'casioiis 
when the grass had l)ecn flattened by heavy rain T saw the 
cock actually sitting on the eggs, while the hen was r('(>dinir. 
He certainly took no regular turn at incul)atii)n, but sat on the 
