KOTIWHENU 117 
to extrusion of eggs ; maybe the more experienced 
pairs take possession of good sites, and thus 
ensure certain accommodation for use at a later 
period. During the hours of light, and especially 
about noon, Parakeets sit cuddled together in 
the green shade of tree-tops ; their holes through- 
out the day are unvisited and untenanted. As 
darkness approaches the pair fly nestwards; with 
her mate’s sanction—his approbation and en- 
couragement indeed,—the hen leaves him and 
enters the hole. There then take place further 
lengthy confabulations, lovers’ last, long, lingering 
good-byes, she with her head only peering out 
of the crevice, recollecting everything at the last 
moment, like ladies risen to retire for the night— 
like ladies cramming their real news into a post- 
script—he, on a near-by branch, gallant, sub- 
servient, courteous to the last, but longing to have 
it over and get to his quiet cigar and tot or their 
ornithological equivalents. At last she retires, and 
he flies off to some safe perch in the woods, leav- 
ing her alone in her hollow tree trunk. Jour 
nesting holes of Parakeets were found, and twice 
we witnessed the strange nightly partings of the 
little couples. 
Though failing to secure the nest, we found the 
new-hatched brood of a pair of Banded Rails, 
one of the two pairs on the island. On the other 
hand, birds, elsewhere plentiful, were scarce. There 
