284 



Transactions. 



this occasion it was vocalized ri-di-dl, ri-dl, ri-dl (short " i " as in " pit "), 

 and it was sung at about eight quavers in a second. There was a very 

 short grace note before the first E, and traces of it at times before the 



< h\> [^"lSU0 " <J» nun p 



others. The phrase was sung two or three times with two or three seconds' 

 pause between the repetitions. Nine days later I saw the bird singing (2), 

 which in sound was nearer a whistle, but gave very faint traces of the 

 same vocalization as (1). 



North Island Robin. 



I saw a robin singing the first day I was on Kapiti. It was in a shady, 

 watered gully close on the beach, and he sat singing a few feet distant — a 

 gentle, bright warble, not so cheery as that of the whitehead, nor so shrill, 

 but more varied and longer continued. I was not yet armed with paper 

 and whistle, so was unable to take any notes, nor did I attempt anything 

 but enjoy the song, thinking I should hear him often enough, since he 

 greeted me thus on the first day. In this I was disappointed ; and I have 

 found that in these observations unless a record is noted down at once it 

 is probably never noted. 



gva. 



<*§lj 



i i 



i i i '. 



RF 



V- 



VVl'l 



gqegjabg 



i: 



(3) 



11 



' — ■ ■ » ■ 



£ 



^V 



ri-cfi/ee 



V- 



/ tv* f_ rr y 



Mtt 



■ » m m mm 



m 



ee-oo 



ri-cfi/ee ri-eti-fte- eeoo 



(4 



I 



t-J- 



•_■_* 



m: 



I 



=\ 



»g 



cAiucAn*diiuc/i'\* ri o/i-itre ee-oo eeoo 



On the 12th January, 1917, as I was climbing a bush-grown spur, a robin 

 appeared in the midst of a manuka thicket, and on my sitting down it 

 approached until within a foot of my side. After a time it uttered a very 

 subdued sound like che-e-er, almost like the muffled mewing of a kitten. 

 It was apparently a young bird, for presently another approached and 

 quickly popped a cricket into its bill. As the second bird approached, the 

 first che-e-er-ed louder and more continuously, and fluttered with its wings ; 

 then both went off together. The young bird was as big as the parent, 

 and both appeared the same in colour — almost black on the back, grey on 

 the belly, darker grey on the breast ; and it was noticeable that the dark 



