NATIVE HEN. 
sentinels ; should anything of an alarming nature come into sight, a harsh cry 
is uttered and the birds seek safety with the utmost celerity. I have never seen 
the Native Hen make any serious attempt to use its wings even when hard pressed 
by dogs. Its running powers are very great ; when going at top speed its wings 
are pressed close to its sides, the neck stretched to its utmost with the bill held 
rather upwards. It can more than hold its own in point of speed against most 
sporting dogs ; greyhounds and other dogs that are trained to hunt hares are 
able to run it down owing to their greater staying powers, but even they can only 
succeed after tiring it out, as it can turn and dodge with the agility of a hare. 
‘‘ On account of its very shy habits it is often very difficult to get a sight of this 
bird even in those places where it is numerous, especially if the place where it lives 
is infested with gorse and sweet briar. In the early morning, and also in the 
evening, the Native Hen is a very noisy bird. The clamour made by a flock of, 
say from twelve to twenty birds, is extremely great. The cry is harsh and 
discordant in the extreme and varies greatly in tone, sometimes resembling 
the sharpening of a saw, at other times the sawing of iron with an ordinary 
hand-saw. To fully appreciate its grating harshness, one wants to creep, as I 
have sometimes done, to the edge of a thicket of gorse behind which a company 
of Native Hens are holdmg high revel, and stay listening for a while. The sounds 
that issue are often so ludicrous that one is forced to make one’s presence known, 
then in a fraction of a second a dead silence reigns. 
“ The nest is usually placed on the bank of a river or stream either among 
undergrowth or just in the long grass. My experience has been that the nature 
of the growth on the banks to a very great extent determines the situation of the 
nest. Where there has been no growth along the banks of a stream but only 
sedges and reeds growing in the water, I have found the nest securely anchored 
in the middle of a thick clump of reeds and afloat all the while. In a stream 
not far from Great Lake I remember finding more than one nest constructed 
on shelving ledges jutting into shallow water and quite unscreened by any growth. 
Should there be any debris washed on to the banks or sweet briars growing 
along them, the nest is constructed among the former or in the grass at the foot 
of the latter. 
As is only to be expected, nearer the haunts of man, more closely is tAe nest 
hidden and more retiring becomes the bird. The nest is circular in shape except 
when constructed at the foot of a sweet briar or some other bush, when it is 
irregular on the inner side. The materials employed are grass, rootlets, leaves 
and fine twigs ; there is practically no lining in the egg cavity, if cavity it can 
be called, as the depression is so slight. The diameter of a nest ranges from 
twelve inches to fifteen inches.” 
Miss Fletcher, also from Tasmania, says : “It was not until the last 
225 
