52 BUSH DAYS 



must now be retraced by reason of the quagmire when 

 the swamp held all this loveliness? 



" It is worth it, a hundred times," we agreed ; and then, 

 drawing nearer to the flowery fire, learned how very much it 

 really was worth while. For, as we moved towards them, 

 the bushes broke into life with a myriad birds, which added 

 a still greater beauty to the scene. Redheads went squeaking 

 across the track with a protest at our intrusion ; scrub wrens 

 chattered in the safety of the thick bushes ; silvereyes 

 " peeked " plaintively at being disturbed ; thickheads burst 

 into song as they flew into the white branches above ; spine- 

 bills flashed by, uttering an agitated cry ; tits fussed and 

 scolded at the disturbance ; white-cheeked honey-eaters darted 

 hither and thither, calling to each other " Who's this? Who's 

 this?" A blue crane rose silently from the path ahead, and 

 flew with slow wing-beats towards the open marsh; and from 

 the reed beds beyond came the strange note of some water- 

 fowl. 



But more than all the other birds together were the black- 

 caps. The bushes were alive with them, and though dozens 

 flew past us, disturbed by our presence, dozens more went 

 on feeding quite unconcernedly amongst the flowers. In the 

 graceful attitudes that only a honey-eater knows, they sucked 

 the honey from the fiery stamens; sometimes they stood 

 poised upon a bending tip, " making it tremble with pleasure," 

 as they stretched sharp beaks into the flowers' hearts; some- 



