WOOD AND WASTE 79 



shutting out the nest from the camera. 

 All work of this sort, it need scarcely be 

 said, should be done gradually, especially 

 under conditions where human traffic is 

 conspicuous, as for instance in a swamp 

 where it is impossible to work without 

 treading surrounding vegetation into pulp. 



This nest also was in a quagmire, where 

 we always sat in gum boots, and to prevent 

 the camera legs from sinking, they had to 

 be supported on broad boards. 



The nest was a partnership affair, though 

 we saw little of the hens, who were giddy 

 young things, and left the cock to do all 

 the heavy work. "You do de haulin'. 

 Brer Fox, and I'll do de gruntin','' seems 

 to be quite the hen Pukeko's idea of a 

 fair division of labour. 



As the cam^era and tent crept up nearer 

 and nearer, it was he who brought them 

 up again and again, and attempted to induce 

 them to sit, and when they would not, it 

 was he himself who sat and panted in the 

 sun, who braved the lens' awful eye, and 

 who re-wove from raupo and grasses a 

 shelter for the nest. 



