176 BIRDS OF THE WATER 



No doubt at first the baby Pigeon is 

 fed from the proliferation of the cells of 

 the parent's crop, and gradually the food 

 given in a form less and less digested. 

 During his last week in the nest ''Pidgy" 

 was being fed on almost or quite raw 

 kaiwhiria berries, for the ejected kernels 

 lay thick beneath the nest. The transfer- 

 ence of the contents of the crop then takes 

 longer, and is repeated twice or thrice in 

 a couple of minutes. 



"Uncle Harry" also, like ''Pidgy," was 

 an egg when I first discovered him, and 

 as I had failed before to get a photo of 

 a Pigeon's nest and egg, and as this nest 

 was in an impossible position, we decided 

 to lower the sapling on which it was built, 

 photograph the nest, and afterwards replace 

 the whole. Much had to be done, for the 

 nest rested on intercrossing branches of three 

 trees — tawa, whau, and matipo — as well as 

 on a lawyer vine, and all sorts of sawing 

 and snipping and cutting was required. 



First of all, however, and in case of a 

 sudden jar, and as an act of extra pre- 

 caution, we took out ''Uncle Harry," 



