BY A. F. BASSET HULL, 663 



sitting bird puffs out its breast-feathers so as to completely hide 

 the egg, depressing its forked tail so as to obtain as secure a hold 

 as possible, and sits with its beak pointing into the eye of the 

 wind, so as to offer the least resistance. Its position may thus 

 be either facing along the limb, or across it diagonally, or at right 

 angles. It sits close until the intending robber is almost within 

 reach, when it raises its wings and, gently fluttering them, 

 " tiptoes " sideways off the egg and hovers about uttering a 

 guttural " heech, heech." Both parents share in the task of 

 incubation, and when changing guard the male bird circles round, 

 uttering his cry, and as he settles on the limb balancing himself 

 with raised wings, the hen sidles off, and he with equal caution 

 takes her place. Although in a few instances I found birds 

 inhabiting adjoining trees, they were generally widely scattered, 

 and frequently a quarter of a mile was covered between nests. 

 Owing to the dense growth and the height at which the birds 

 laid their eggs, the most successful plan for locating them was to 

 ascend to the top of a ridge and scan the trees growing on the 

 opposite side of the gully. On a sunny day the gleaming white 

 plumage of the bird was conspicuous against the dark green of 

 the leaves or the grey of the branches. After noting the position 

 of the tree, a plunge through the thick undergrowth to the 

 bottom and a toilsome scramble up the other side led to a search 

 for the inhabited tree, which often proved far more formidable 

 to climb than it appeared from a distance. The island boy who 

 accompanied me was an excellent climber, and so long as he could 

 get a clasp round two-thirds of the circumference, or the bark 

 was sufficiently rough, he would swarm up with the soles of his 

 bare feet clasping the trunk, and when the first branch was 

 reached the rest was easy. Where, owing to the ridges being 

 timbered as densely as the valleys, a sight of the opposite side 

 could not be obtained, a careful search for the white splashes on 

 the leaves of the undergrowth generally located a bird, and a 

 prospecting tour up the tree was rewarded in many cases. 



In one instance I found a bird sitting on an egg deposited on 

 the splintered top of a dead blood wood, about 15 feet from the 



