The Emu 
129 
if they remained sitting still when one passed by, and they choose 
either stony ground or under a few shrubs, where the broken 
shade makes it still more difficult to distinguish them from their 
surroundings. Then, again, their egg is either lightish brown or 
very pale green, with a few black spots on, and they also are 
very difficult to detect even at a short distance, and unless the 
place is noted from where the parent bird rose there is a good 
chance of not finding it, as it is laid on the bare ground. Both 
the male and female take turns on the egg, there being 
practically no difference in colour between them. The Podargi 
(Frogmouths) are very similar to the preceding birds in so far as 
both the male and female are wonderfully protected by their 
markings, the male being occasionally a little redder in 
shade, and he generally sits on the eggs most of the day. 
In roosting during the day they choose either a dead branch 
or one covered with rough grey bark, and they sit length- 
ways on the bough, remaining perfectly still if danger is 
near, and, stretching out their beaks, make their bodies appear 
perfectly straight, and exactly like a broken dead stump, and 
when sitting on their eggs look just like a piece of wood lying 
across the nest. I remember on one occasion that, having found 
a nest, my companion thought some boy had thrown a stick 
across it, so perfect was the resemblance, and it was some time 
before he could make out that it was the bird itself, although 
only about fifteen feet away from us. During the day the pair 
is never far apart, being either in the same tree or one of them 
in an adjacent one. 
Bee-eaters are bright-plumaged birds, but, nesting in a hole as 
they do, the hen bird does not require any protective colouring. 
The same applies to Kingfishers, Cockatoos, and Parrots, as in 
most of them the females are a conspicuous colour, but as they 
all nest in hollows they do not want much protection when 
nesting. When the Alexandra Parrot {Polyteiis alexandrce), in 
whose plumage there is much green, sits on a bough, it generally 
does so lengthways. It is then difficult to detect as long as it 
remains still ; and the same may be said of the green Lorikeets 
when they are feeding on the eucalyptus flowers among the 
green leaves, and also the more sombre-coloured Grass- 
Parrakeets as they are feeding on the ground among the coarse 
grass and weeds. 
Doves and Pigeons nest in different places, according to their 
colour, and they need to, being favourite food for Hawks. They 
build, as a rule, very fragile stick nests, and in some cases it is 
difficult to realize how the bird can fly off and on without 
upsetting its egg. The Geopelia are all of a grey colour, and 
make their nests of a few small twigs, generally placed 
either on a dead branch or among dead or grey brushwood, 
w^ithin a few feet of the ground, and are most difficult to find, 
despite their white eggs — a Hawk passing overhead would 
