24 BIRD LIFE GLIMPSES 



take part in the incubation of the eggs, and there 

 is, perhaps, no prettier sight than to see the one 

 relieve the other upon them. It is the female bird, 

 as 1 believe, that sits during the day — which, to her, 

 is as the night — and, shortly after the first churring 

 round about begins to be heard, her partner may be 

 seen flying up from some neighbouring clump of 

 trees, and, as he comes, uttering, at intervals, that 

 curious note of " quaw-ee, quaw-ee," which seems 

 to be the chief aerial vehicle of the domestic 

 emotions. As it comes nearer, it is evidently 

 recognised by the sitting bird, who churrs in 

 response, but so softly that human ears can only 

 just catch the sound. The male now settles beside 

 her, churrs softly himself, and then pressing and, 

 as it were, snoozling against her, seems to insist 

 that it is now his turn. For a few seconds the pair 

 sit thus, churring together, and, whilst doing so, 

 both wag their tails — and not only their tails, but 

 their whole bodies also — from side to side, like a dog 

 in a transport of pleasure. Then all at once, with- 

 out any fondling or touching with the beak — which, 

 indeed, I have never seen in them — the female darts 

 away, leaving the male upon the eggs. She goes 

 off instantaneously, launching, light as a feather, 

 direct from her sitting attitude, without rising, or 

 even moving, first. In other cases the cock bird 

 settles himself a little farther away, and the hen at 

 once flies off. There are infinite variations in the 

 pretty scene, but the prettiest, because the most 

 affectionate, is that which I have described, where 

 the male, softly and imperceptibly, seems to squeeze 

 himself on to the eggs, and his partner off them. 



