102 BIRD LIFE ON ISLAND AND SHORE 
weeks. In the interval we had been spoiled. 
During our second visit to Pegasus we had not 
time to readjust ourselves to want and poverty. 
On Kotiwhenu we had revelled in birds. Tits 
area was so restricted that industry only was 
required for the discovery of every nest built. 
At Pegasus, on the other hand, the land was 
miserably poor, bird foods were consequently 
deficient, and birds themselves but sparsely scat- 
tered through its vast areas of timber. The very 
scope of the woods was a discouragement. A 
feeling of hopelessness was engendered by the 
prospect of penetration into their untenanted 
recesses. Penetration, furthermore, was exceed- 
ingly difficult; the branches of the low-growing 
scrub were rigid almost as wire, and advance 
possible on the high slopes only by means of axe 
and slasher. 
In addition to lack of birds and difficulty of 
locomotion, | was uneasy on another score. The 
date of our departure from Pegasus was fixed by 
the sailing of the fish-boat returning to the Bluff, 
and gave me then only sufficient time to catch the 
liner taking us to England. Should we locate at 
the last moment the nest of an Orange-wattled 
Crow, its discovery would have forced on me a 
painful decision. This was our fourth season of 
search for the species. During two previous 
expeditions I had seen the bird; during each 
