THE DUSKY CHAT. 
691 
or dances a minuet after his own fashion; and then the 
pair chase one another up and down. With all this they 
do not spend the day regardless of what is going on 
around them, but see and watch everything, especially 
whatever betokens danger. If a bird of prey appears they 
immediately hide away in some crevice, or vanish in 
safety under a rock; but ere long a little black head 
may be seen peering from out the rift, on the watch, 
to see if the danger be past; and then the old game 
recommences de novo . 
It is really pretty to see how the pair behave at the 
nest. The Dusky Chat builds rather late in the season, 
say the middle or end of April, or even the beginning of 
May. Suitable places are indeed not wanting, for he is 
everywhere sure to find some rent or hollow in the 
perpendicular wall of rock which is not occupied by the 
Eock Sparrow, and which he can make use of. The nest 
is built with a view to accommodating a numerous pro¬ 
geny: it is large, and formed of grass, haulm, and small 
roots, closely interwoven together, the interior being 
carefully lined with goats’-hair. The eggs it contains 
usually number from four to five, though six and seven 
are not uncommonly met with in one nest. 
I found such a nest in the Sierra de los Anches, in 
Murcia. It was placed in a largish hole, formed by the 
crumbling away of the rock, on a broad boulder over¬ 
hanging like a cornice: the spot was well chosen, and to 
the purpose. These deserts amongst the mountains are 
rarely visited by man, still the clever little creature had 
overlooked the fact that the hole could be easily reached. 
The nest contained five unfledged young ones, of whose 
identity I was not long left in doubt, as before I had 
finished my examination both the old birds appeared on 
4 Y 
