38 MATESHIP WITH BIRDS 



it was greeted with, "Hello! Georgie is back!" 



It will be noted, then, that the best of the 

 vocalists in the choirs of Spring are, almost with- 

 out exception, the travelled birds. On the other 

 hand, the leading songsters among the birds we 

 have always with us find their chief musical powers 

 in the Autumn and Winter. Could any arrange- 

 ment be happier than this ? It pleases us, and, what 

 is more to the point, it suits the birds themselves. 

 The stay-at-home species are too busy now for 

 song and play. Moreover, they are fully seized of 

 the fact that discretion is a needful attribute of the 

 nesting bird. Undue merriment is apt to call atten- 

 tion to little homes hidden away in the bushes, and 

 these, as every bird knows, are secrets not easily 

 kept under any circumstances. 



It is for the nests of these stationary birds that 

 the roving naturalist searches in the early days of 

 September. There may not be news for him in 

 every bush just yet, but it is growing day by day. 

 If there was nothing of note in that patch of 

 eucalypts on one day, there will be something next 

 day perhaps a few woven fibres where a Honey-Bird 

 has made a start with its pendulous home, or a tell- 

 tale piece of bark that calls attention to the choice 

 of a Thrush, Regent Honeyeater, or Yellow Robin. 

 There is rare pleasure in sauntering along from 

 tree to tree on these bright mornings, peering into 

 the recesses of bushy stumps for the round bark 

 homes of Thrushes. The Yellow Robin, keeping to 

 more exposed situations, can see you coming. This 

 advantage is denied the Thrush, with the result that, 

 as often as not, when you part the bushes growing 



