72 BIRD LIFE ON ISLAND AND SHORE 
gathered from uncoiling tree-fern fronds. In one 
instance one or two seedling plants of another 
kind of small polypod had been utilised in the 
structure of the exterior cup; the innermost 
lining, instead of the usual tree-fern hair only, 
had that substance intermixed with layers of soft 
frayed grass and carex. The edges of all Robins’ 
nests are, as already described, beaten hard by 
the outstretched wings of the female, and firmly 
netted with spider-web. The hen sits closely ; 
only the impudent obtrusion of a Pied Tit or the 
inadvertent approach of a Whitehead rousing her 
to anger and brief chase of the offender. Two or 
three times an hour during the progress of incuba- 
tion the hen is called off into some convenient 
greenery, there to receive the offerings of the 
male, who, aiter feeding her, mounts high on a 
neighbouring tree and sings delightfully. 
