372 • Transactions. — Zoology. 



come in from the outlying parts of the run. The head and 

 long projecting beak give them rather a jockey-like appear- 

 ance. During heavy rainfalls many of these bii'ds congregate 

 in the garden. There, selecting the low bough of an orchard 

 tree, they wait for the drowiied or wandering worms. The 

 moral character of the kingfisher does not seem altogether 

 above reproach: on one occasion I saw a small chick killed, 

 and for no apparent purpose. The kingfisher will also kill 

 canaries as they cling to the wire of the aviary. 



A rather remarkable instance of aberration of instinct in 

 the kingfisher came under my notice three years ago : the 

 bird had begun to bore into a rotten stump not more than a 

 foot or so in width, and therefore quite unsuitable for nidiiica- 

 tion. Our kingfisher's eggs are as round as those of the 

 British species. 



Of the honey-eaters we have two — the tui and the wax-eye 

 or blight-bird. To those who have been once only in our 

 New Zealand woods it is unnecessary to dilate on the tui. 

 Throughout the years, almost at any hour, even through the 

 warm, light summer nights, his pleasing notes blend with the , 

 unceasing rustle and stir of leaves and the sound of the v/ind 

 in the tree-tops. In its wild state even the tui is an accom- 

 plished mimic, taking off the squeal of the wild pigs particu- 

 larly w^ell. Mr. Brandon tells me that not infrequently his 

 collies have mistaken its imitation of a shepherd's whistle for 

 the genuine article. One nest I examined was built of small 

 branches of manuka, lacebark, lichen and mosses woven 

 togsther, while the delicate, white, rather long eggs lay in a 

 thick bed of the brown glaucous hair of the tree-fern's crown ; 

 a second was built entirely of the little jagged branches of the 

 lawyer, and lined with bush-grass and a few feathers. 



The little bhght-bird's history in the North Island has been 

 fully given by Sir Walter Buller. With us it is one of the 

 native species that has increased greatly of late years. These 

 birds roost in large flocks in the fern — at any rate in summer. 

 Often I have startled them out of their cover at dawn. In 

 spring, when nestling, they are exceedingly tame, and do not 

 seem in the least alarmed or shy, even of an observer within 

 6ft. of their nest. They will hop about quite unconcerned, or, 

 sidling up, will press close to one another like love-birds. A 

 glance at one of their nests will reveal the great alterations 

 that have taken place in the natural history of New Zealand 

 within the last few years. First of all, the bird itself has only 

 lately come to the North Island ; and one nest I got was 

 composed of Yorkshire-fog grass, a few fowl-feathers, and hair 

 of horses and cattle — every material alien to the colony. Few 

 sights are prettier, I think, than to watch the wax-eye nimbly 

 threading its way through the prickly mazes of a box-thorn 



