162 BIRDS OF THE WATER 



crannies of their sheer sides all sorts of 

 interesting plants find foothold, and where 

 one stratum overlaps another, limestone 

 over papa for instance, the superposition is 

 marked by a long line of greenery, some- 

 times flax and toi, but often rangiora, 

 fuchsia, mahoe, etc., and it is on their 

 lateral branches, jutting out into the air, 

 that pigeons love to nest. 



For pigeons, therefore, Tutira is an ideal 

 breeding place, and many nestlings must 

 be reared on the run each year. 



This season we got four nests, three of 

 them built in lateral forked branches 

 jutting out from cliffs; the fourth, built in 

 low bush, was spread over the intercrossing 

 gro^^i;hs of three species of tree and an 

 immense lawyer vine. The pigeons' nest is 

 not unlike a heap of magnified spillikins 

 well spread out and flattened. Only sticks 

 are used, and through them from beneath 

 can be seen distinctly the peculiarly long 

 narrow white egg. 



The earliest of these nests came to grief 

 a day or two before the 3rd of November, 



