SEPTEMBER REVELRY 31 



Cuckoo. Then, adjacent the dam in the old gully, 

 came much entertainment from a concert of White- 

 naped Honeyeaters. Dainty, jolly little acrobats! 

 To one of them I drew very close and listened to a 

 throaty "Joe- Joe-Joe," that was suddenly broken 

 now and again by an irresponsible "Churr-churr!" 



Follows then a record of nests found some in 

 new sites, others in situations known to have done 

 good service during preceding Septembers Shrike- 

 Robins, Honey-Birds, and Thrushes predominating. 

 None of these birds' nests was particularly hard to 

 find in the district of which I write, and too often 

 a subsequent entry in the note-book recorded a home 

 despoiled "rooked," in the expressive term of the 

 Australian kiddie, "harried" in that of the British 

 boy. Such, alack, was the frequent effect of the 

 cause that in this month the small boy's fancy 

 lightly turns to thoughts of nests. 



For your genuine bird-lover, however, these 

 bright days carry a deeper pleasure than even the 

 sport of "nesting." The time of the return of the 

 migrants and nomads has come, and he finds him- 

 self straining the hearing and this, too, is almost 

 involuntary for notes loved long since and lost 

 awhile. It does not seem to me that the voice of a 

 bird is necessarily an index to its owner's disposi- 

 tion, but I do think that, in most cases, the rare 

 charm of a migrant rests in its call, and all that the 

 call suggests, rather than in the bodily presence of 

 the bird. With one who has become accustomed to 

 listen for these greetings year after year, the ear 

 becomes preternaturally quick. The old familiar 



