BUSH WREN 143 
observation of the movements of these particular 
Wrens. Thus we discovered there was certainly 
a pair, male and female, equally often to be found 
near the great log. Later again we were able to 
ascertain a certain route constantly followed. At 
last one eventful evening I spotted one of the 
pair bearing a feather in its beak flutter up into 
the gloom of a frond-hung trunk. For gladness, 
like the damsel Rhoda, instead of waiting to 
locate the exact orifice, I rushed off to announce 
to the brothers Leask the good news. Such 
happiness granted to mortal by the kindly gods 
was not to be recklessly dissipated by immediate 
enjoyment; it was to be frugally prolonged. 
Nests of the Bush Wren are unusually difficult 
of detection, the openings into them even in good 
light almost imperceptible. Shaded by overhang- 
ing foliage and within a foot or two of the dark 
peat forest floor, they are wellnigh invisible. Dur- 
ing search, moreover, care has to be taken not to 
trample the entrance to such tiny structures, not 
to block them with trodden fronds and under- 
growth. There was another disability too—no 
mean one either,—we were like all pioneers in 
search of the unknown, ignorant of the type of 
locality likely to be favoured. As the British 
Wren often conforms its colour scheme to the 
browns of beechen leaf and brake, it had been 
conjectured that the New Zealander might like- 
