A BUSH CALENDAR 



young birds abroad. On one twig, 

 nestling closely together for support, 

 sat a family of three diamond-birds, 

 squawking hungrily for the food 

 which their parents brought them 

 in turns. Young honey-eaters are 

 everywhere ; spinebills, New Hol- 

 lands, and white-cheeked, all with 

 their characteristic beaks and flight, 

 but still lacking the brighter plumage 

 of the adult birds. In a bursaria 

 bush I found Mr. and Mrs. Blue 

 Wren, busily feeding young ones ; 

 such fluffy little brown balls they 

 were, too, with absurdly long tails 

 sticking up very straight. By and 

 by some of them will blossom forth 

 in the gorgeous blue and black suit 



of the father bird, but at present they all wear the safe and 

 sombre brown of their mother. 



In the branches of a turpentine I came across an infant 

 who was not so happy as the blue wrens and diamonds birds. 

 It was a big, fluffed-out baby pallid cockoo, who sat dismally 

 bunched on a branch wailing miserably while a fierce war was 

 waged around him. Evidently it was time for him to declare 

 himself in his true colours, for his rightful parents kept flying 



BLUE WREN 



