62 BIRDS OF THE WATER 



with two others — no doubt hens. A nest 

 was made in a cluinp of hill fern and 

 eight eggs laid. 



These, my friend declared, were all laid 

 by one bird. Probably, however, he failed 

 to distinguish the females, and the eggs 

 were really a joint contribution to the treble 

 partnership. This is the more likely as 

 the Weka's relative, the Pukeko, often 

 acts thus; moreover, eight is an improbable 

 number of eggs for a single hen to lay 

 even though stunulated by scraps of meat, 

 potato, and the refuse of a camp. 



On August 22nd another Weka's nest 

 was dropped on by a contractor felling 

 manuka. This nest, though substantially 

 built, was unprotected above, save for the 

 poor shade of spmdly manuka. 



On October 7th I had the luck to find 

 two nests, neither of them, however, show- 

 ing any character in their construction; one 

 was on the edge of a patch of low white 

 manuka, and from it one or two photo- 

 graphs were got. They show the three 

 eggs, with their ground colour of dirty 



