WOOD AND WASTE 73 



had up many permanent screens for this 

 purpose. 



One nest watched last year was ]}uilt in 

 one of the wettest parts of a wet swamp, 

 just where several springs oozed forth, 

 and where even in the height of summer 

 no horse or cattle beast could venture. 

 Indeed, the surface would hardly bear a 

 man, and to prevent their subsidence the 

 camera legs had to be placed on boards. 



This particular nest for photographic 

 purposes was really in too secluded a place, 

 and the birds, though quite broken to the 

 actual erection in front of their eggs, were 

 timid of mankind. 



Nests should be, if possible, selected, 

 where the roar of traffic — or perhaps not 

 quite that on Tutira! — has accustomed the 

 bird to the ways of man, his ridings, his 

 driven mobs of sheep and cattle, his barking 

 dogs and himself perambulating this earth 

 on his own two legs. This nest had been 

 visited at intervals, my intention being to 

 obtain the photos a few days before the 

 eggs chipped and when the birds would be 

 sitting hardest. 



11 



