170 BIRD LIFE ON ISLAND AND SHORE 
Robins especially take all sorts of liberties with 
the sitting birds, spying, for instance, into the 
cavities containing their eggs and young, a bit 
of boorishness only to be compared to the conduct 
of a man inadvertently chancing on bathing 
damosels—happy inadvertence,—not feigning him- 
self heedless, blind, and passing forward on his 
way. J have photographed the Robin and the 
rightful owner of the nest on the one plate. On 
the nest built in the Maori kit I have seen a Robin 
alight on the very edge of the woven flax, an 
impertinence of so gross and outrageous a nature 
as to provoke even this most pacific of birds. 
Still, however, remonstrance was but passive, the 
hen rising on her nest with legs wide apart—a 
favourite Saddleback attitude by the way,—and 
for long standing on guard over the new-hatched 
chicks. Few species again willingly suffer a 
stranger near their young, yet within a foot of 
the nest Robins would actually attempt to snatch 
food from the bills of the long-suffering birds, 
fencing and fronting them as people colliding in 
a street step together—first right, then lett, 
dancing opposite one another in their attempt to 
get clear. Though so much larger, Saddlebacks 
never attempt to resist imposition ; the best they 
can do for themselves is to ignore the highwaymen 
at their door. An unadventurous placidity marks 
their conduct always. 
