THE ESTUARY 145 



year or two ago, when the birds, according to his own 

 account, stood on the edge of the nest in a kind of 

 boxing attitude and drove him wounded from the field, 

 that we thought we should like to verify this statement 

 for ourselves ; so we sent him out to report upon the 

 place, for these birds return to the same nest year 

 after year. 



When he arrived, thirsty and footsore from this 

 expedition, and told us that the tree had since been 

 cut down, I should have felt sorry for him had I not 

 known that he had indeed been " not so far," but had 

 been lying down on the hills at the back of the town 

 during the whole day. Before finally dismissing him, 

 which we did not wish to do at all unfairly, we agreed 

 to pay him by results ; this sounded very thorough and 

 business-like, and seemed to depress his spirits some- 

 what. However, he soon regained his customary sulky 

 stolidity, and informed us one day that he had succeeded 

 in finding several nests. Where were they ? we asked 

 him. " Oh, not so far," he said. Accordingly, after 

 walking a little way into the bush, he put down our 

 belongings and pointed to a tree which he approached 

 stealthily. This tree was decorated in a rather too 

 lavish manner with nests, while on the ground another 

 nest had been thoughtfully placed by our promising 

 guide. The affair was perhaps a trifle overdone, but 

 having started off on this voyage of fabrication he was 

 not going to be pulled up short for want of a little 

 dilating on the subject in question. ," Dis bird," he 

 explained, in allusion to the owner of one of the nests, 

 " 'ad a blue 'ead and a red back." " Dis nest 'ad kickens 

 in it yesterday," and so on, showing at the same time 

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