I'icid Notes jruin Mashoiialaiid. 
57 
brought in a nesl ol small tinchcs; the nest was the size oi a 
wren s, but built entirely of grass. It was found in a thorn tree 
right out on the veldt, standing quite alone; it reminded me 
of a miniature sparrow's nest. 1 never found out what species 
these small finches were. The nest contained hve youngsters, 
but I had very bad luck with them, in spite of the fact that they 
were fed every three-c|uarters of an hour all through the nigiu. 
To start with, the cat got three. One, when old enough to Hy, 
elected to take a trial Hight over the veldt one day when 1 was 
out, and although all the " boys '" were turned out to hunt for 
it. and though it was " marked down " by one of them, it was 
never seen again, and 1 suppose died of starvation, poor little 
nn'te. The other reached maturity, nnich to my delight, but 
eventually escaped, so I only saw it in juvenile plumage, which 
was mud-coloured above, with chestnut breast and yellow-ochre 
tianks, each feather tipped with wdiite and with a dark brown 
pencilled edging; bill black; legs flesh-colour; pale yellow-ochre 
eyebrows, and, most curious of all, three sky-blue globular 
formations at the base of the beak, about the size of a rape seed. 
When mature it was the size of a wren. It, along with its 
companion which flew away, was reared on scrambled egg and 
crumbled Albert biscuit. The fledglings were fed every ten 
minutes during the daytime, and every forty-live minutes during 
the night. One must have something round and nest-like to 
rear small birds in, and T found an old hat as good as anything, 
filled with clean hay and a lid of cotton wool. One must have 
something round so that they get the full benefit of the heat of 
each other's bodies — a sc|uare box is useless as they often sulk in 
corners and eventually die from cold — which I found to my cost. 
Just immediately round the house where I was living in 
.Southern Rhodesia the place was a desert as far as one could 
see, for with the exception of thirty or so mulberry trees, a few 
blue gums, and a small plantation of orange, lemon, and j^each 
trees there is not a tree to be seen. In spite of this these few 
trees team with interesting birds. A flock of thirty or so 
Cfiossy Starlings, shining mauve, green, and blue; they system- 
atically work from one end of the mulberry trees to the other, 
and then back again for any insect they can find; nothing indeed 
seems to come amiss to them. Great was my excitement one 
