Philpott. — Birds of South-xvestern Otago. 217 



BOWDLERIIDAE. 



South Island Fern-bird {Bowdleria punctata punctata Quoy and 



Gaimard). 



This species is becoming very rare in Southland ; I have not met with 

 it for six or seven years. In the summer of 1913-14, in company with 

 Mr. R. Gibb, I visited Stewart Island, and among the manuka scrub on 

 the Rakiahua Fiat we found the bird abundant. 



MUSCICAPIDAE. 

 South Island Tit {Mijiomoira macrocephala macrocephala Gmelin). 



Observations on the habits of the South Island tit point to the con- 

 cmsion that it mates for life. During the winter a male and female are 

 often to be seen in company, and I have seen the male giving food to the 

 female as early as the first week in August. In the spring much fighting 

 goes on between the cock birds, but the quarrelling is not confined to that 

 season ; on several occasions a pair of males were observed fighting in the 

 presence of a female in the late autumn and winter. The tit is certainly 

 holding its own wherever the native forest is still standing. It is equally 

 common in the Nothofagus forest at 3,000 ft. and the mixed forest at sea- 

 level. 



South Island Robin {Miro australis australis Sparrman). 



In considering the problem of the diminution in numbers of New Zea- 

 land birds the case of the South Island robin offers some peculiar features. 

 While the bird has disappeared from large areas remote from settlement, 

 it is still to be found in several districts in close proximity to farming, 

 n\ining, and timber-working activities. Though the coastal forest from 

 beyond the Waiau to Preservation Inlet — many hundreds of thousands 

 of acres — does not now apparently contain a single robin, the bird still 

 holds out in certain localities comparatively close to towns. If the stoat 

 and weasel were alone responsible for the scarcity of the robin we should 

 expect to find outlying districts more favourable to its safety ; certainly 

 the writer's experience is that the stoat is much more common in the 

 neighbourhood of cultivation. From 1914 to 1917 I visited the Hunter 

 Mountains each year in January, ascending through the Titiroa Forest from 

 Monowai Flat. In 1914 the robin was common in the lower bush ; in the 

 following year only a few were about ; on the third trip only a single bird 

 was heard ; and in 1917 there was no sign of the species at all. I am unable 

 to suggest a reason for such rapid disappearance. On the Monowai Flat 

 rabbits are very plentiful, and cats and stoats are probably not uncommon. 

 The part of the Titiroa Forest in question is attached to Sunnyside Station, 

 and the owner, Mr. H. Cuthbert, informs me that nearer the homestead 

 the robin is still to be found. In Stewart Island in 1913 I found the bird 

 plentiful on Rakiahua and Table Hill, but it is not in evidence near Half- 

 moon Bay and other settled districts. 



South Island Grey Warbler {Maorigerygone igata igata Quoy and 



Gaimard). 



The grey warbler is a bird which 1 think will adapt itself to the new 

 conditions attendant upon the settlement of the country. It frequents 

 orchards and plantations, and several instances of its nesting in fruit-trees 

 and macrocarpa hedges have come vmder my notice. 



