WAITING AND WATCHING 173 



We suppose this must have been because one of us was 

 too near the nest. Harvie- Brown moved his post of 

 observation after we had spent some time without being 

 able to discover anything ; and then the female behaved 

 as usual, and I soon marked the position of the nest. We 

 walked straight up to it, and found the four eggs chipped 

 ready for hatching. We had no difficulty in shooting 

 both birds, and afterwards hatched out two of the eggs, 

 obtaining a couple of good specimens of young in down. 

 With a little practice this mode of finding birds' nests 

 becomes almost a certainty. One has first to be quite 

 sure which is the male and which is the female. When 

 the birds are near enough, and one can compare them 

 together, the greater blackness of the breast of the male 

 is sufficient to distinguish him ; but we found that the 

 females varied considerably in this respect, and that it 

 was better to notice the habits of the birds. The female 

 generally comes first to the nest, but she comes less 

 conspicuously. She generally makes her appearance at 

 a considerable distance, on some ridge of mossy land. 

 When she has looked round, she runs quickly to the next 

 ridge, and looks round again, generally calling to the 

 male with a single note. The male seldom replies ; but 

 when he does so it is generally with a double note. 

 When the female has stopped and looked round many 

 times, then the male thinks it worth while to move ; but 

 more often than not he joins the female by flying up to 

 her. The female very seldom takes wing. She is very 

 cautious, and, if she is not satisfied that all is safe, will 

 pass and repass the nest several times before she finally 

 settles upon it. The female rarely remains at one post 

 of observation long ; but the male often remains for ten 

 minutes or more upon one tussock of a ridge, watching 

 the movements of the female. 



