THE STITCH-BIRD 113 



excitedly in the boughs above our heads. The cry sounded like 

 the words "steech, steech," and when this was imitated she 

 came closer and flew amongst some saplings a few yards away. 

 With her tail erect and almost at right-angles with her body, and 

 her wings drooping, she ran up and down the boughs and turned 

 round freciuently, as if she was the embodiment of motion. 

 She hardly ceased to give the cry, and there were few moments 

 that she took her eyes off us. Later on, she was joined by a few 

 companions, all of them females. I was disappointed at not 

 seeing a male stitch-bird, which is an exceptionally handsome 

 bird, but deemed myself fortunate in having had a passing 

 acciuaintance with the female. 



The interest taken in this bird by naturalists is shown by the 

 fact that Mr. Reischek, the Austrian collector, visited the island 

 on several occasions to see it. In 1880, he camped on the island 

 for three months, without meeting with any success. Two years 

 later, he sent his assistant, who remained for some time, and 

 succeeded in shooting only one pair. Reischek visited the island 

 again, with a determination to live there until he had seen a 

 stitch-bird. After five weeks' continuous search, during which 

 he laborioush^ traversed nearly all parts of that rugged and 

 precipitous little island, he was at last rewarded by hearing the 

 stitcli-bird's whistle. He was not able to get near enough to 

 see the bird on that occasion. With the assistance of a friend 

 who accompanied him, he cut tracks to the tops of some of the 

 mountains, but the}^ could not see the object of their search, 

 although they often heard its call. Reischek then removed his 

 headciuarters towards the centre of the island. Shortly after- 

 wards his eyes were delighted with the sight of the stitch-bird. 

 He was so interested and excited in watching this rare and 

 beautiful bird's movements that it disappeared before he had 

 time to use his giui. He continued his quest for three more 

 weeks before he was able to shoot an.y stitch-bircls. He had 

 discovered their haunt. It is a deep ravine near the top of the 

 range, where rocks form steep precipices. It took him two days 

 tramping, climbing, and scaling cliffs to get back to the landing- 

 place on the shore ; but he felt that he had been well rewarded 



