40 BIRD LIFE ON ISLAND AND SHORE 
them in situations not very different from those 
affected by the Robin or Pied Tit. Both of us 
were wrong; nor in truth did the habits and 
customs of the Stitchbird quickly enlighten us 
for to the species in general the lines might fitly 
be applied—“ everything by turns and nothing 
long ”—* not one but all bird-kind’s epitome.” 
We were fortunate in locating the species. 
We began well, for Mr Nelson was able to show 
us birds the first day. Then for several weeks we 
learnt almost nothing more; no new discovery 
was made. We could find not the sign of an old 
nest; we failed to note the building of a new 
one. Even when at last, after nearly a month’s 
search, a hen bird was seen with a bulky pinch 
of tree-fern hair in her bill, that single fatal fact 
—the one and only nest-building episode I have 
to chronicle—misled us into waste of days, or 
rather, since that is impossible in a New Zealand 
forest, busied us with nine days’ fruitless search. 
She never reappeared; the problem to the end 
remained unsolved. Every bit of ground was 
inspected, every tree explored. Hither some acci- 
dent had occurred to the bird, or, since the material 
carried is everywhere plentiful, this hen for some 
unaccountable reason was unnecessarily carrying 
it from a considerable distance to her nest. 
Later in the year, especially in the vicinity of 
nests, we noticed a curious duality running through 
