172 BIRD LIFE ON ISLAND AND SHORE 
nating cannot have been very acute, for after a 
minute or two one or other of the pair would 
return without caution or reconnoitring. In their 
entrances and exits it was more usual for the 
parent birds to hop than to fly to and from the 
nest. 
The Saddleback obtains a large proportion of 
its food amongst the leafy tops of the bare-boled 
tupari, a tree naked to the neck, reaching a height 
of sixteen or twenty feet, thickets of which extend 
over a large part of the island. Immediately 
beneath this verdant thatch Saddlebacks may be 
most easily watched whilst courting and mating, 
whilst gathering grubs, spiders, caterpillars, and 
flies. On one occasion I believe I got a glimpse 
of a Saddleback using its foot in some feeding 
operation. In their unremitting search for insect 
life the loose bark of moribund trees is torn 
away by the strong-billed birds. If too tight for 
easy detachment, it is nosed off by insertion of 
the bill and neck and a jerk back of the head. 
I have seen the bird disappear, save for the tail 
tip, beneath hanging folds of bark loose enough 
to be thus raised, but sound enough to resist 
complete severance from the trunk. Any yellow- 
ing leaf also that promises a blight or gnawing 
insect is seized in the mandibles and examined. 
As the Robin and the Wren haunt the floors 
