48 
Post Morion Reports. 
by the end of the month all are mated. Nests have been found 
constructed of grasses, lined with finer material; another was 
constructed of i)ine needles and vesj^etable stems. They mostly 
build at a low elevation from s^round level up to about seven 
feet. The es^gs are huffy blotched with brown. 
( )ne episode we (juote in cxiciiso: — " On Aug". 3. near 
" Malixiriso Lake, at 500ft. altitude, a female fluttered 
" away, with pretended broken wing, from her nest in a hole 
in the ground under a bunch of lupines, about 6oft. from the 
" nearest tree or shrub.' The hole was lined witli vegetable 
fibres and contained three babies, just hatched and with eyes 
" not yet opened. The next day I found them covered with a 
" thin growth of long black down. The mother kept to the 
" nest most of the time, but I observed the father hunting 
" through the grass in the vicinity more than once. The 
" babies remained in the nest about two weeks." 
Young have been seen to f\y as early as the end of June 
at low elevations, but higher up have been seen in the same 
stage as late as Aug. 12. 
Regularly, as early as mid-Au";ust, they congregate in 
small flocks. 
<> — 
Correspondence. 
SiK, — I should l)t ghid to Iiear from anv breeder of Long--tailed Grass- 
finrhe.s willing- to make an exchange of some of their young birds (either 
s?x). so as to secure unrelated pair.s for this S'.'ason's breeding. 
.M:ierl)eck. \cw Makl.'ii, Surrey. R. N. (;lI!il.^RD. 

Posfc Mortem Reports. 
7.V-\:u\ Finch ( o ) : T. O. Harrison. Sunderland. — This bird died of double 
|)n?umonia. This can be a very acute disease, and is (juite conipatilile 
with apparent perfect health on the day preceding death. 
Zn>RA Fixcii (V): Miss D. E. Pithie. Southsea. — Congestion of the lung.^ 
was the cause of death following injuries to the head. The bird being 
injured would be less able to resi.st infection than healthy. 
NATH. S. LUCAS, M.B., F.Z.S., 
Hon. Pathologist, 
