BIRDS OF OUR BUSH 



there have been more than two birds intensely in- 

 terested in the proceedings. Oftentimes there have been 

 half-a-dozen, and the issue has become so clouded that it 

 has been extremely difficult to determine which birds were 

 the actual owners of the nest or young. An investigation 

 after the excitement has abated, however, has usually 

 revealed a sufficient number of nests to account for the full 

 number of birds. The excitement, moreover, prevails 

 equally at each nest that is disturbed. Wren neighbours, 

 on the occurrence of anything unusual in the neighbour- 

 hood, are wont to turn out in force, crane their necks, and 

 make plenty of noise. 



Certainly, we have noticed more than once, later in the 

 season, a spare female or two, but their position is probably 

 accounted for by the presence of grown-up young birds of 

 a previous clutch of eggs. We have had proof of this theory 

 in one instance at any rate. In a little patch of garden 

 at the Old Treasury Building, Melbourne, a pair of Wrens 

 built four nests and reared four broods during the year 

 1918. The same material served in each instance, but a 

 new position was chosen for each nest. All four were 

 built within twenty or thirty feet of perhaps the busiest 

 tram line in Melbourne. After the first brood had left 

 the nest and had been shown round the grounds for a week 

 or so by both parents, the female again built a nest and 

 incubated a further clutch of eggs. The young birds were 

 handed over to the male while the female built the third 

 nest. During the time the last two broods were being 

 reared, we watched carefully. The young of the first nest 

 quickly grew to resemble the mother, and the fact of two or 

 three of his growing children accompanying the male was 

 certainly apt to create a false impression on the mind of 

 the stranger. So much of the nature of their mother did 

 these young birds inherit that they took their share, along 

 with the parents, of the work of feeding the youngsters in 

 the last nest. In fact, it was impossible to say which of the 

 brown birds was the original female. We are quite satis- 

 fied, now, that the few cases of apparent polygamy we had 

 previously encountered are fully explained. 



It is also believed with regard to the Blue Wren that 

 the male, during the winter months, dispenses with his 

 bright colour, and assumes the quiet brown plumage of his 

 spouse. This view we believe to be correct ; otherwise it 



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