WOOD AND WASTE 63 



white, blotched with large, faint, washed-out 

 brown-purple markings. 



The other nest found on October 7th 

 was sheltered and hidden by old dead 

 bracken, above which there was a growth of 

 tall manuka. It also contained three eggs. 



Believing that we should get more inter- 

 esting nests later in the year, I did not 

 attempt to photograph the birds, but "he 

 "that will not when he may, when he 

 "will he shall have ^nay,' " and this we 

 experienced with the Weka, obtaining no 

 late nests in use. 



Certainly five very characteristic nests 

 were got afterwards, but only egg chips 

 remained in them. One was on a dry 

 limestone shelf sheltered by a huge pro- 

 jecting peak of the same rock. On this 

 inner ledge the nest lay dry and warm, 

 the egg chips half filtered through the soft, 

 dry grasses. There the Weka must have 

 sat secure, and in partial gloom, caused by 

 the veil of pendent ferns on the outer rock. 

 Three other nests were built beneath ancient 

 clumps of hill rush and sheltered with a 

 natural thatch of many inches depth and 



