224 Three Episodes in ..ly Aviary. 
also from the back path throuyh the aforementioned screen of 
loganberry. One evening when I came in and went into the 
garden she said to me: " Mr. Page, are yon aware that you 
have at least two young birds in the aviary; they are fawn- 
coloured streaked with dark brown?" She tlien showed me 
-where she had seen them. We watched and searched (from the 
outside) for them without success, and it was not till two or 
three days after she had left that I saw them, though 1 had been 
looking for them constantly since being informed there were 
young about. Then, quite unexpectedly, 1 discovered them; 
I was watching the birds through the loganberrv-screen from 
the back walk about 4 p.m., when I saw indistinctly something- 
move in the dense interior of a golden-privet bush and stood 
very still, waiting for a clearer sight of it; while doing so the 
Crimson-crowned Weaver cock entered the bush and fed, not 
one, but two young — at least, so I jiresumed — birds. I had to 
leave almost at once, as it was time to feed the poultry, and 
so I did not get a clear sight of them. The following afternoon 
I entered the aviary and closely examined the bush, when two 
young birds and the cock Crimson-crown flew out and perched 
right in the open. I then pulled the convolvulus apart and 
searched for the nest, which was well formed, and well hidden 
In the densest part of the bush, and covered in Ijy a perfect 
tangle of the common, white-flowered, bindweed. The front 
of the nest was torn away, but whether this was done prior to, 
or after the young had made tlieir exit, I caiuiot say. 
The young birds resembled their mother, but were paler 
and with the markings less distinct. They were tawny-brown 
in colour, striated with blackish-brown; a little down, or hair, 
still showed above the feathers of the crown. 
Both are still living, and now (Oct. 15th) quite 
independent of their parents, but have not yet moulted. They 
were reared on regurgitated seed and fresh grass seed, also a 
fairly considerable number of winged insects, which their 
parents hunted and captured in the aviary. 
Perhaps the most disappointing feature of all these three 
episodes is the failing to acquire but little direct data; this is 
not owing so much to the size and arrangement of the aviar/ 
lending itself to secretive nesting, but having so little leisure 
observation was very casual. 
