WOOD AND WASTE 167 



young, and to secure a picture of the act 

 in progress. The nest where ''Kuku" sat 

 was selected for the preliminary effort. 

 He had been first discovered when a well- 

 grown bird of three weeks, and opposite 

 his platform a screen and sham camera had 

 been fixed. 



This first attempt was a failure, for 

 although I waited for over twelve hours, 

 the old birds never visited the nest. 



I was there by 6.30, and a few minutes 

 later had finished unwrapping the real 

 camera — placed there overnight — and was 

 ready. During these operations the nestling 

 never moved, but for a couple of hours lay 

 quite still with his back to me. Later on 

 he changed his position from time to time, 

 once or twice during my vigil stood up in 

 his nest for exercise, and at intervals during 

 the long day, did a good deal of yawning, 

 preened his feathers, nibbled the leaves and 

 sticks within reach, relieved himself over 

 the edge of the nest, rolled his crop roimd 

 and round as pigeons do, and also went 

 through series of throat and neck exercises, 

 retching as if he was preparing to be sick. 



