56 MUTTON BIRDS 



my hand with her tiny wings. Reassured and 

 accustomed to my close company, she proved a 

 most assiduous sitter, moving but two or three 

 inches aside even when the male was present 

 and feeding the chicks. There, on the very edge 

 of the nest, she waited as if grudging an instant's 

 absence from the beloved chicks. On the rare 

 occasions when she did leave her family I 

 noticed her on the peaty ground and low shrubs 

 gathering insects and grubs. The smaller ones 

 she ate herself, as conscientious folk eat only 

 the smaller berries as a sort of perquisite when 

 gathering fruit. When she was so fortunate, 

 however, as to get a considerable caterpillar or 

 bulky moth, that was too good for herself she 

 evidently thought; to have eaten it herself would 

 have been simple waste the discovery of such a 

 tit-bit always terminated her brief jaunt. The 

 little ones were never out of her thoughts. Like 

 a kind elder sister at a Christmas tree, she 

 wanted to return with something got by herself 

 for the babies at home. 



The sanitation of the nest was done chiefly 

 or altogether by the male and the droppings 

 deposited at command on the edge of the nest 

 by the young birds, swallowed. 



During our whole stay at Herekopere there 

 was but one morning of calm weather, and it 

 was during this lull that we were fortunate 

 enough to secure our photographs. 



I often visited this nest, and the day previous 

 to our departure found the chicks with wing 

 quills already well developed and within five 

 or six days of flight. Their growth is therefore 

 very rapid. The Morepork was once more 

 within three or four yards of the nest, and not 



