78 BIRD LIFE ON ISLAND AND SHORE 
fledglings taken from the tree-tops, and imme- 
diately claimed as the property of four old birds. 
Three invariably was the number seen on the 
kanuka tops, where by-the-bye they offered ex- 
cellent marks for counting, seated, as is their 
habit, cuddling close like love-birds. In our ex- 
perience on Little Barrier Island—and it was an 
experience extending over weeks—a clutch of three 
eggs was never exceeded. One nest alone, already 
mentioned as owned perhaps by two birds only, 
contained two eggs. 
Granting that the relationship between the small 
number of eggs laid and the large number of 
mature birds interested in the nest, rests on some- 
thing other than chance, several questions raise 
themselves. Does each quartette consist of two 
pairs, male and female, or are there in each 
group three hens, each of which lays a single 
egg, and one cock? If there are two pairs—that 
is, two males and two females,—how does it 
happen that in these communal nests one of the 
females lays two eggs and the other one egg? 
What again is the originating cause of the strange 
partnership ? Is it owing to the small number of 
eggs laid? Lastly, why should the clutch be a 
small one at all? Somewhat difficult to answer 
are these questions, because of the similarity of 
the plumage of the sexes; but watching the 
habits and customs of the breed, I thought I 
