144 BIRD LIFE ON ISLAND AND SHORE 
wise have blent its nest into the material of the 
rough rufous aspidium crowns. With unavailing 
care we looked for a dome built in the open; as 
a matter of fact, we were iia for what was 
not to be found. 
Of the three nests discovered, not one of them 
was as we had imagined it might be. The first 
was built somewhere within the mouldering bulk 
of the huge fallen ironwood already mentioned. 
Half-way down its dark side, corded thickly with 
the brown-green vigorous roots of the spotted 
polypod, was the entrance to the nest. So small 
was it, even when compared to the size of the 
little builders, that they could scarcely enter, 
always having to haul themselves in by many 
minute, grasping, scrambling movements. The 
edges of the circular hole, shaded by great dark 
overlapping fronds, were firmly bound with fibre 
collected from the durable cores of fallen tree- 
ferns, its dull blue-black hue matching exactly 
the rooty coating of the log. The ingress to our 
second nest, found by John Leask after a search 
extending over the best part of several days, was 
even more difficult to determine. It was actually 
down a Petrel’s burrow, an earthy cavern scraped 
out like a rabbit hole, a vestibule whose dispro- 
portionate size made utilisation seem impossible. 
Although repeatedly, therefore, the Wren was lost 
to sight in its proximity, none of us could credit 
