292 



Transactions. 



occasional discords sounded, but they were not unmusical ; the singers sang 

 sharp or flat, or lost time, but soon recovered both tune and time. The 

 two principal parts showed a great variety of themes: on the 10th and 

 15th January they were as in (102), and on the 13th as in (103) — a most- 

 beautiful theme. In this the upper notes sounded very high in pitch, 



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especially when the high C was taken, yet they were <|uite musical. On 

 the 16th, in a neighbouring valley, the chorus was carried on mostly in the 

 high-pitched notes, sounding like tiny, light, resonant bells : the highest 

 notes were almost " sweet bells jangled out of tune and harsh," but so 

 softly uttered that, like the unharmonious upper partial tones, they gave 

 character to the chorus rather than discord. 



Bell-bird. 



On Kapiti the bell-bird, like the tui, was very tame, singing and 

 feeding close at hand. The notes of (24) appeared to be the call-notes. 

 Thev were the ones most generally heard, and correspond to (1). (2), (7), 

 (8), "(10), (13), (14), (17), (17a) ; (22), and (23). They were very rapidly 

 utteied — eight to ten semiquavers a second. They were clear whistles, 

 excepting the closing note, which was more full and flute-like. This call 

 was varied as in (24a) and (24b). A call somewhat similar, but more 

 flute-like in tone, was (25), taking something over a second. On a day 

 when a strong south-east wind was blowing, a bell-bird, hunting for insects 

 in a ngaio, sang at intervals of two or three seconds a single note on D, 

 (26), almost vocalized kahk. It sounded like the beat of a bell blown on 

 the gale from the distant mainland. The slurs of (27) were cried by a bell- 

 bird when swooping after a whitehead. The slur was repeated eight or 

 more times in succession, three or four times a second. The high staccato 

 note (28) was repeated by a young bird, the gape of its beak still white at 

 the base. It was searching, first in a manuka, then in an Olearia Forst.eri, 

 constantly uttering this single sharp note. Three weeks later the note 

 was F instead of A, and this young bird sat in the top branches of a 

 manuka repeating it incessantly twice a second for minutes at a time. 

 The old birds came one at a time at intervals to feed it. The cry would 

 cease for a couple of seconds whilst the food was given, and then begin 



