202 FIRST APPEARANCES OP BIRDS, INSECTS, ETC. 



repetition about twenty times of the syllable 

 " queek " and something after the style of the 

 call of a guinea fowl (Numidea meleagris), only 

 on one note, not two. Both birds when in 

 close company make a funny little " queek " 

 like the first syllable of a waterhen's call on 

 a very low and soft note. 



Both birds are such fidgets that the only way 

 to make a successful exposure is to note the 

 position in which the bird most often keeps its 

 head in a series of movements and then to start 

 the exposure immediately its head arrives at 

 that point. 



At 1.40 the male sailed in and dived, coming 

 up close to the nest, and then settled on. In a 

 few moments the babe gave a feeble " queek," 

 and the male spied it and came across,and I could 

 not watch them under the bank. Five minutes 

 after W.P.C. arrived with my lunch, and the 

 male still stuck under the bank. I signalled 

 W.P.C. to deposit my lunch and depart, but 

 not before the male dived out from under the 

 bank and across the other side of the gully. 

 As soon as W.P.C. had gone the male came back 

 again and covered the eggs, and then went under 

 the bank close to me and stayed about a 

 quarter of an hour, and I could not see a ripple ; 

 and so I stole out to get my lunch, and the 

 male then crossed the gully. A few minutes 

 after I had got back to the tent the male rose 

 out of the weeds, and I saw the chick in the 

 weeds beside him. The male then fussed round 

 the chick for about a quarter of an hour ; but 

 the little chap could not get on to the bird's 

 back. At last it crawled over the weed into a 

 tangle of furzebush that drooped in the water. 

 This completely baffled the male, and he, after 



