42 BIRD LIFE ON ISLAND AND SHORE 
third, perch and watch within a few fect. By 
modulations of his call the hen will be ordered 
into covert, yet within an hour, perhaps on the 
same spot, will be brought forward for fullest 
exhibition. Sometimes, if happened on suddenly 
—if indeed it is possible for such a clumsy stumb- 
ling brute as man ever to surprise a forest crea- 
ture,—he will ruffle his feathers to thrice his size, 
appearing the very picture of sullen sulkiness. 
At other times the birds will remain smooth, 
unconscious, careless. Sometimes the male will 
loiter through the woodland ways; at others 
pass like an arrow up the boulder-blocked burns 
that largely serve as avian thoroughfares. Some- 
times he will travel by the tree-tops high in air ; 
at other times by the forest floor. Although one 
of the most active and mercurial of birds, he 
can and does—though not often—remain for 
seconds motionless like a statue, deeply meditative, 
glowering into space as Fantails sometimes glower. 
Owing to the wealth of greenery on this warm 
island, it was a hard task to keep our eyes on 
particular birds for any length of time. That 
was the prime difficulty, for the Stitchbird, though 
not indeed so friendly and curious as the Robin, 
is not in any degree a furtive, far less a timid 
breed. Different individuals of the species and 
different pairs, male and female, have again and 
again during our three months on the island 
