196 BIRDS OF THE WATER 



many weeks now been completely domesti- 

 cated, and comes and goes with the other 

 four. He, too, like ''No. 4," is a fully 

 matured bird in fine plumage. 



''Kuku," ''Pidgy," and ''Uncle Harry" 

 are now some seven months old; they 

 have given no trouble to the grown-ups, 

 and to the younger folk of the station 

 have, together with the Pukekos "Budget," 

 "Toddy," "Jack," "Jill," and later "Sep- 

 timus," been a source of unmixed plea- 

 sure and interest. Even if they left us 

 to-morrow, we elders have learnt from 

 them what we never could have guessed. 

 The station children have gained more. 

 To them it has been an education, I 

 believe myself, of the soundest sort, not 

 taught by parents out of books, but drawn 

 by the children themselves direct from 

 nature. 



Printed by Whitcomhe it Tombi Limited, Wellingtun. 



