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Mrs. Darnton—My Scarlet Tanagers



stuffing out of one of the armchairs which was showing the passage of

time. She certainly was less exacting in her behaviour to him and I

was pretty sure they would have a shot at nesting, but the weather

was so cold that I didn’t open the shutter of their shelter and let

them into the flight till 19th May.


It was a lovely spring day, a warm sun with hardly a breath stirring,

and they were delighted to be in the open once more.


With them were a pair of Shamas but otherwise they had the place

to themselves. They had both moulted out during the early part of

the winter and both were in superb condition and plumage. They

looked marvellous, either flying down for a mealworm on to the daisy-

spangled grass or fluttering from branch to branch in the dogwoods.


As the days went by I noticed that she had quite stopped scolding

him and my hopes ran high. Then one morning, 29th May, upon going

into the aviary, I noticed Nellie with a piece of hay in her beak. She

hopped down and collected more, finally flying with it all into the

privet bush. This went on more or less all day, but Rouge et Noir

never attempted to help and merely sat about watching, or occasionally

flew at her very excitedly and rushed about the flight as if to relieve

his feelings.


This continued for some days, until one day I was lucky enough to

see him displaying to her. He made his body very slim and, erecting

a ruff of feathers round his head, he would sidle up to her, swaying

meanwhile from side to side. It was rather a wonderful sight and

I was overjoyed to see it as I hoped it meant business.


Meanwhile the nest was nearly finished, built of grass, hay, rootlets,

and a few dry bamboo leaves. It was placed nearly at the top of the

privet, but Nellie always went to it from under the bush, climbing

up the branches until she had reached it and then coming out at the

top. I made a shelter of “ Windolite ” on a wooden framework in

preparation for those sudden deluges which are apt to wash nests

away, and hung it over the bush. Then to my disgust I had to go to

London for several days. I returned on 8th June having been away

five days. Naturally the first thing I did was to rush down to the

aviary. Nellie was nowhere to be seen, but the cock was sitting on

a branch looking very self-satisfied. After looking for her everywhere



