148 BIRD LIFE ON ISLAND AND SHORE 
Mutton bird of the locality. Was this species not 
in the neighbourhood in the beginning of things ? 
Was the habit of using only the feathers of an- 
other Petrel inexpungeably branded into the 
brain of the Wren ere the Mutton bird arrived ? 
I know not; but those used belonged almost 
invariably to Dawson’s Petrel. 
On account of fear of possible desertion, the 
duration of incubation was not ascertained with 
exactitude ; we believed, however, that the birds 
of the first nest were sitting when discovered on 
the 6th of November. On the last day of the 
month, when I plucked up courage to introduce 
a finger, the Wren chicks scooped out were judged 
to be about six days old. There was no down on 
them; their eyes were closed. Four days later 
their eyes were still mere slits. During incubation 
the parent pair changed positions on the eggs at 
frequent intervals ; not only then, but long after 
the chicks were hatched, feathers continued to be 
carried in and out. The chicks—there were two 
of them—were fed by the parent birds on moths, 
flies, and daddy-long-legs. 
The conversational note of the birds amongst 
the low vegetation, where their lives are passed, 
is a faint rasping sound, the noise of a small 
wrist-watch in process of winding. Whenjalarmed 
or excited they utter a loud cheep. 
The nests excised contained in each case two 
