MISCELLANEOUS NOTES. 259 



The elevation of the spot was about 5,500 feet. 



Keonthal State, '29th Ajjril 1911. — Two more nests to-day : both situated 

 in niches of rocks by the sides of large waterfalls, and well concealed. 

 They were only discovered by watching the movements of the parent birds. 



Elevation about 5,000 feet. 



[a) Could not unfortunately be approached on account of its dangerous 

 position. It probably contained either hard set eggs, or young ones just 

 hatched, as the old bird sat very tight, and only left the nest after several 

 large stones had been rolled down from above the Fall. 



(6) Contained 3 eggs on the point of hatching off. Compared with the 

 positions of the other nests, this one was easy of access, and was not more 

 than about 12 feet high. The nest, as already stated, was placed in the 

 niche of a rock, and was completely hidden by a large, quantity of water 

 which fell continuously over it. So well was it concealed that, although I 

 was not more than half a dozen ]paces from it, I could not see it. To get 

 to their home, or out of it, the birds had invariably to pass through this 

 dense sheet of water ! 



The identification of the bird was a most trying experience. On my 

 arrival at the spot, I had noticed a bird dart out of the water, but it was 

 impossible to say with certainty what it was. Fortunately there was a large 

 boulder just in front of the nest in the middle of the stream, and I took 

 advantage of this by hiding behind it. The water was up to my ankles, and 

 my cramped position soon began to tell on me. After a few minutes of 

 waiting, the old bird appeared on the scene, and one would have thought 

 that with hard set eggs, she would have got into her nest at once. But it 

 was not so with the Little Forktail : she had no intention whatever of being- 

 rushed in this fashion, and thus giving away the show. For more than an 

 hour I was kept in suspense, and was beginning to think that she was not 

 the owner of the nest. At one time she would flit from rock to rock, at 

 another, dart into the water after a passing insect. Now she would 

 gingerly plume her feathers, now sit with them ruffled, and assume a 

 sort of vmconcerned expression — the eggs, although exposed for so long a 

 time, apparently gave her no cause for anxiety. My patience was nearly 

 exhausted, and I had almost given up all hopes, when her Ladyship 

 apparently recollecting that her eggs were getting cold, after a few hops 

 along the rocks, suddenly darted through the sheet of water, and settled 

 down into her nest. 



The nests in both cases were deep caps, composed exteriorly of moss, 

 iind lined with fine moss-roots, and dead and skeleton leaves : in other 

 words they were simply small editions of the nest of the Western Spotted 

 Forktail {Henicurus viuculaiwi). I have at present before me four nests 

 of the latter, and comparing these with those of our bird, I can find 

 <ib8olutely no difference whatever, except for size. 



