A RARE BIRD. 209 



selves like light-hearted, care-free bachelors. 

 Their mates were not in sight. But suddenly 

 I glanced up and saw two females flying in to 

 the island high overhead, as if coming from a 

 distance. Instantly the indifferent holiday air 

 of their mates vanished. They gave their low 

 warning calls, for I was on the ground and they 

 must not show me their nests. In answer to the 

 warning the females wavered, and then, when 

 their mates joined them, all four flew away to- 

 gether. 



At other times when I rode in the males would 

 make large circles, seventy-five feet above me, as 

 if to get a clear understanding of the impending 

 danger. This was when small nest hunters were 

 about, and the birds were some whose nests I did 

 not find, and who had no opportunity to become 

 convinced of my good intentions. 



After finding that the males did most of the 

 building, I was anxious to see how it would be 

 when the brooding began. Three of my nests 

 were broken up beforehand, however, and the 

 fourth was despoiled after I had watched the birds 

 on the nest one day. Nevertheless, the evidence 

 of that day was most interesting as far as it went. 

 It proved that while the female lacked the archi- 

 tect's instinct, she was not without the maternal 

 instinct. There were two eggs in the nest, and in 

 the one hour that I watched, each bird brooded 

 the eggs six times. Before this, the female had 



