THE SPOONBILL. s 



a little relieved to find by the warmth of the eggs that 

 she had not deserted. Maternal instinct had proved 

 stronger than feminine nerves. It was decided, however, 

 in view of her timid character, to turn our attention to 

 the other nest which the hiding-screen commanded, and 

 the position of the camera was altered accordingly. 



This nest contained two young ones about a week or 

 ten days old. The weird little creatures spent most 

 of their time in a semi-dormant state, and in their more 

 wakeful moments showed little activity, crawling slowly 

 about the nest (Plate 3), using their wings to aid the legs 

 in pushing their heavy bodies along. The contrast they 

 made with their graceful stately parents was most striking. 



It is interesting to note that at this early stage the bill 

 shows little of its future spatulate nature, and is, moreover, 

 much less in proportion to the size of the head than in the 

 adult. The corrugations, too, are only suggested, but 

 the whole bill is thicker and more fleshy. Their legs, 

 are very weak, and they have to content themselves 

 with crawling, it being long after leaving the shell before 

 they can walk about or stand upright. 



In common with the young of many of the larger birds 

 building unprotected nests, they suflFer a good deal from 

 the sun, and lie panting in a pitiable condition. 



But the boat had not long left before it was obvious 

 from the behaviour of the birds that something was 

 wrong. None of those near returned, but kept flying 

 round and round, looking at the tent. By a pre-arranged 

 signal the boat was recalled, but an examination of the 

 hiding-place failed to show anything out of order. At 

 last it occurred to us that the Spoonbills' point of view 

 was not ours, and that while the tent might be well hidden 

 when viewed from every point on a level with it, it might 

 not be so when regarded from above. Then we found 

 that the covering of reeds from the far side of the dome- 

 like top had slipped off^ as I was getting in, and no doubt 

 it presented a conspicuous and bulky appearance in the 

 great uniform expanse of slender reeds. 



