WOOD AND WASTE 131 



Sometimes a tapering tail of mixed 

 lichen and grass and wool is added, the 

 idea perhaps borrowed from the pendent 

 ''old man's beard" that, yards in length, 

 swings from the tawa boughs. 



But with all this thought and care to 

 match the surroundings properly, the 

 Fantail fails to tidy up, and shreds of web 

 and wool are left thick on the branches on 

 the-- building route, and often betray the 

 nest. 



In manuka scrub it is always worth 

 looking for a Fantail's nest beneath any 

 dense lateral branch. I have known the 

 curl of a broad flax blade act throughout 

 incubation at once as umbrella and parasol. 

 Birds feel the sun heat ver}^ soon and when 

 the sheltering boughs about a nest are 

 temporarily tied back, the sitting bird at 

 once begans to pant; manifestations of 

 discomfort are even more apparent in the 

 young. 



Many Fantails' nests this season have 

 been under observation, several of them 

 actually under the camera, and others seen 



