140 THOMSON, Haunt of the Butcher Bird. 



[The Emu 

 L 1st Oct. 



broodin.E^. The rain (Inj])s may be seen glistenn\<,r on the twigs 

 below the nest. 



After feeding the young, both birds would sit on the edge of 

 the nest and look intently at the nestlings, sometimes gazing for 

 several seconds at a time. So T)ugnacious did the male become 

 during the day, that often, after feeding the young, he would 

 pause on the side of the nest, suddenly launching him.self at the 

 camera, shooting quickly past. Once, during the day, he struck 

 my head and also my finger, even drawing a speck of blood. 

 This was the first occasion upon which I had known a wild bird 

 actually to touch me in defence of its young. 



Though the day was dull, and I could do practically no photo- 

 graphy, yet during several hours spent a few feet from the nest, 

 I learnt much of the intimate life and habits of the bird. In 

 spite of heavy rain, I was obliged to leave the camera out, 

 covered only by an oilskin coat, for many days and nights. On 

 Wednesday, October 12th, I had a splendid day with the Butcher 

 Birds. The day was cloudy at times, and exceedingly muggy 

 and warm, but the birds were unaffected by it, being extremely 

 bold and Jierce. All idea of feeding the young seemed to have 

 left them when T first arrived upon the scene, but after a long 

 wait, my patience was rewarded by several good pictures. 



At first the birds had fed the nestlings with insects, including 

 many moths. To-day one dragon fly was brought, and small 

 lizards were fed very freely. It was an interesting and ridicu- 

 lous sight to see the waggling head of a nestling with the tail of 

 a lizard hanging from its mouth, the protruding tail still writhing. 

 The youngsters appeared to thrive on their reptilian diet, and 

 were always ready for more. I obtained a photograph of the 

 male at the nest with a lizard in his beak. As the day went on, 

 the male became still more savage. He would suddenly flash 

 into view, and, perching sidelong on a sapling as if to muster his 

 strength and measure his distance, launch himself with a harsh 

 note, or perhaps, with an ominous silence, broken only by the 

 swishing of wings, striking as he shot past. His mate also joined 

 him at intervals. I must confess that I breathed a little more 

 freely when they had passed. Nevertheless, to have to shield my 

 eyes all day, and continually dodge the birds, was rather a 

 noNclty. 



It appeared that the birds did not feed the youngsters con- 

 tinuously all day, but full-fed them at intervals. That this was 

 the case was further suggested by the absence of the birds at 

 intervals, for more or less long periods, whilst at other times they 

 would join in an attack upon me instead of attending to their 

 domestic duties. 



It was a uniciue [)leasurc and privilege to sjiend so many days 

 in the home of this glorious songster and to study and j-hoto- 

 graph his intimate home life. 



