FEBRUARY 



69 



in the bush more friendly 

 than he, and in a little while 

 he was hopping round us 

 picking up the crumbs gently 

 scattered for his benefit. 



Suddenly from the clump 

 of tea-trees behind us came 

 a whirring noise, and a large 

 light bird flew rapidly by to 

 the fence across the green, 

 where he perched clumsily 

 with an upward flick of his 

 tail. It was a young pallid 

 cuckoo in his transition 

 dress of speckled brown and 

 white, which looks rather 

 as if he had been liberally 

 splashed with the white-wash 

 brush. He was probably the 

 same chap we had seen last 

 month being fed by chickups, 

 but though we watched for some time we saw no sign of the 

 foster parents. Although the pallid cuckoos have been silent 

 now for some weeks past they have not yet gone off on their 

 northward flight, and no doubt the parents of this young fellow 

 were somewhere near, ready to call him when the time came 





Watching with frig curious eyes 

 YELLOWBOB BESIDE NEST 



