WOOD AND WASTE 77 



platforms built for chicks seceding from 

 the original nest, and already mentioned, 

 are often too steep for the little creatures 

 to crawl up. I have, moreover, seen an 

 old bird supporting in his claw a chick 

 when feeding it in a precarious position. 

 After the sudden disappearance of the two 

 young ones 1 could see the parent birds 

 moving about the vicinity of the nest and 

 hear them rustling softly in the raupo, their 

 high, querolous notes running through the 

 whole gamut of interrogation. 



There were other calls, too, one a low 

 croon, another the gentle call to feed — "Te- 

 he-he-he," "te-he-he-he" — and a third re- 

 markable noise rather than call, at its 

 height like grinding, and which I took to 

 be the bird milling food for the young, 

 and at its lowest just the snore a retriever 

 makes when fetching a hurt hare after a 

 long chase and breathing entirely through 

 his nostrils. I was confirmed in my theory 

 of the milling or grinding of food, for 

 a few hours later, on handling the chicks, 

 their droppings seemed to be composed of 



