264 
IVaxbills as Aviary Birds. 
something" fresh to interest every time one visited the aviary. 
'J'o sit outside the aviary on a sunny day and v, ;uc.i -.^e birds; 
such scenes will never fade from my memory — how happy these 
wee mites were! more among" the grasses and herbage than in 
tiie trees and Inislies. To see a Gold-breast or Cordon Bleu 
A Wilderness Aviarv. 
on a lall grass seeddiead (when the photo was taken the grass 
was nearly two feet high), the grass stem swaying almost to 
the ground under the light wei.^ht of these fairy-like sprites, was 
entrancing, and a sight never to be forgotten — on a stiffer stem, 
when i)erched at the lop, at a little distance, the ( lold-breast has 
been mistaken for a ,L;olden flower -or to hear the sudden whirr 
of wings when some wretched mouse momentarily scared thcni, 
ns thev rose, a small cloud of wee feathered life, to seek cover 
.iniid the trees and ])nslies. "Pwas in this a\'iar_\- that the 
( h"ang"e-cheek W'axbill l)rought up their brood, in a snug nest 
on the ground, cunningly woven into the grass amid which it 
was placed: here also the ( lold-breasts brought forth their 
voung" from a nest placed in a privet bush, only two feet above 
the ground. In a clump of dock about three feet high Olive 
iMuches wo\c their i.cst :-:i"i " '.'1 ■ ::\ h.-ads. and in ilue course 
