120 BIRDS OF THE WATER 



notice at all, yet if any feathered creature 

 may claim particular recognition, it is 

 surely he who is not one bird but four. 

 With us in the Antipodes he takes the place 

 of four British species, the Skylark, the 

 Wagtail, the Flycatcher, and the Robin 

 Redbreast. 



He does mount, and he does sing, even 

 though he cannot be said to soar, or thrill 

 us with profuse strains of unpremeditated 

 art, but he himself and his four brown 

 eggs and simple nest are modelled on the 

 Skylark's as nearly as may be, the nest 

 perhaps, a trifle deeper, the eggs practically 

 indistinguishable. Although, however, he 

 cannot sing against the British bird, what 

 Skylark was ever so friendly, so sociable, 

 and so ready always for the game of 

 running with quick little steps along the 

 winding tracks, rising with a merry chirp 

 and a short flight, again and again and again 

 beguiling the loneliness of the shepherd's 

 ride. Then, again, where would you find 

 the Skylark that could obtain amusement 

 from a railway train — a New Zealand 

 railway train? 



