204 
Breeding ilie Orange-hilled Saltator. 
In the early sprint^- I drove ;ill the l)ir(ls into the bird- 
house, and did not let them out ayain until the shrubs and trees 
had made a good start, and the aviary had been cleaned up 
generally. 
As soon as they had access to the flight again they 
commenced to build a large and strong nest in an elder bush. 
The nest was constructed of strong twigs for a foundation, and 
work progressed, smaller twigs, hay and rootlets being used, 
with hair, fibre and fine hay for interior lining. The exterior 
of the nest was rough, not unlike a large blackbird's nest, but 
the interior was well finished. Eggs were deposited and 
incubation commenced; soon, when the hen was off for a feed, 
T went and had a peep to see what the nest and eggs were like ; 
I did not touch or handle, but she never went near the nest 
again. There was only on.e egg in it, something like a thrush's. 
Another nest was commenced in one of the flight's smali 
shelter sheds; it w;!s completed in a few days, but they did not 
appear satisfied with it, and connnenced another nest outside in 
cne of the elder bushes. This again they left, and shortly I 
found them to be incubating a clutch of four eggs in the nest 
they had built in the shelter shed. Only one of the eggs hatched 
out, which did well, but left the nest prematurely, when only 
]\'irtly fledged, much as the smaller thrushes and blackbirds do 
here This young bird used to climb about in the bushes and 
on the ground; the parent birds attended to it well. I saw it 
n'.-iViy times, and it greatly resembled the hen bird, except that 
•he colour was darker. I imagined it to be fully reared, but for 
some reason it disappeared — possibly its parents stopped feeding 
it, or it failed to find water; the weather w^as very dry and hot, 
;jid the water obscured by tall grass. 
Another nest had been built and the hen was incubating 
again, an elder being again the favoured bush. They had 
begun to feed their young before T went away for three weeks, 
and on my return I found two strong young birds, fully as large 
as their parents, flying about. In a few days I saw them eating 
buds, and coming in the evening for a drink and a feed of live- 
food (gentles), which is always kept in a tin. 
I think these are two cocks, for they closely resemble their 
male parent, except in one or two small details : their mandibles 
