BIRDS OF OUR BUSH 



grapher lies in its persistence, tenacity, pig-headedness, or 

 whatever it may best be called. Seldom indeed will the 

 bird refuse to visit its nest in the face of the camera, but 

 when it becomes necessary for it to perch on one particular 

 point the trouble begins. A photographer who works at 

 a greater distance than we do, will probably find much less 

 difficulty. 



The bird whose nest is pictured possessed the quality of 

 persistence to quite the usual degree. For several hours 

 all attempts to induce it to perch on a piece of stick were 

 vain. Covering with leaves all other perches in the 

 vicinity, and other ruses often used with success, had no 

 effect. The bird would approach from behind the nest, and 

 in no other way. A photograph was at length obtained by 

 sheer patience. We placed a wad of grass in the entrance 

 of the nest, removed all other obstructions and simply 

 waited. After a time — a very considerable time — our sub- 

 ject evidently forgot our presence and hopped on to our 

 selected perch. Unfortunately the negative obtained was 

 lent and cannot now be found. 



We have noticed the persistence of the Brown Tit at all 

 times, whether faced with a camera or not. At the Plenty 

 River, Greensborough, we watched on one occasion for quite 

 half-an-hour a trial of patience between one of these birds 

 and a White-naped Honeyeater, both of which had nests 

 close by. The "Brownie" was intent upon securing for its 

 home a large piece of downy substance from a shrub quite 

 close handy. The Honeyeater's nest was on the other side 

 of the river, much further away, yet the Honeyeater, with 

 its swift flight and characteristic pugnacity, was able to 

 foil each attempt of the smaller bird to dislodge the coveted 

 material. 



Honeyeaters, generally, are great bullies, and this 

 one appeared to have no other object in attacking the 

 smaller bird than persecution, pure and simple. It was 

 amusing to notice the tactics of the Brown Tit. It would 

 fly from its nest quite unconcernedly in a direction exactly 

 opposite to that in which the material lay, and would double 

 back quietly and slowly till within a few feet of its goal. A 

 bold rush from the nearest cover was inevitably countered 

 by the swooping flight of the Honeyeater to the spot, before 

 the material could be dislodged. Several times it seemed 

 that the smaller bird was about to succeed — that the Honey- 



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