THE PURPLE HERON. 43 



My birds had not been down, and now, when the old 

 birds were returning, became wildly excited. They 

 seemed quite unable to recognise their parents, and every 

 time an old bird appeared overhead the whole colony 

 was thrown into a tumult, the occupants of each nest 

 being firmly convinced that it was none other than their 

 mother which was returning. When the right home was 

 reached, and the rest of the colony reahsed that after all 

 it was not their turn, instead of quietening down those 

 within view of the banqueting party either stood up on 

 the nest-edge, vainly trying to get across, or more 

 commonly they blamed each other for having lost the 

 meal, and a four or five-handed or, rather, " billed," 

 fight began, not infrequently ending in the weakest 

 going overboard. After each of these bouts they sub- 

 sided, the conquerors sitting on the vanquished and all 

 looking rather sorry for themselves (Plate 28b). 



I have said that the young were not seen to climb 

 unintentionally to wrong nests, the condition being 

 inserted to cover the case of one large youngster which, 

 when a nestful half his size were being fed, climbed up 

 and settling himself amongst them received a portion 

 with the rest, thereby showing that the parents' powers 

 of recognition were little, if any, better than those of 

 their ever hopeful children. 



Sometimesaverylargeandforward youngster would walk 

 over the bush-tops to meethis oranyothermother, occasion- 

 ally being rewarded by being fed there. But never 

 were they fed on the ground or among the undergrowth. 



These incessant false alarms by the advent of wrong 

 mothers were most exasperating, not only to the 

 youngsters, but also to myself, for I was equally unable 

 to identify their parent, and each time one settled on the 

 bushes I hoped it might be her. At last she came, 

 alighting some twenty yards away, and immediately 

 " freezing." There she stood outlined against the sky, 

 motionless as a statue, with only her fixed yet searching 



D 2 



