Eeischek. — Ornithological Notes. 189 



he read a paper before the Philosophical Society, Wellington. 

 After this, I procured several specimens of adult and young 

 birds, which had the same plumage as the old birds, black and 

 ferruginous, only a little duller ; their wattles are either in- 

 visible or very small. I measured the wattles of adult males, 

 and found them half-an-inch long, and of a deep orange colour ; 

 those of the female are smaller, and of a citron hue. 



Strange to say, in the South Island I only saw this bird on 

 the higher ranges, where it prefers steep thickly-wooded gullies, 

 but on Taranga Island, in the North, I found them everywhere, 

 both on the ranges and near the seashore, especially on the 

 flax blossom, from which they suck the honey. I also observed 

 it on the Great Barrier in June, 1882, and on Eangitoto Ranges 

 in the King country in March, 1882. 



The female lays from two to three eggs in November ; male 

 and female hatch and rear their young together. The saddle- 

 back is a very noisy bird. The whistle consists of three and 

 four notes — the first three, like"r'i, zi, o," he repeats twice, 

 and then the four notes in succession, like " te, te, te, te." In 

 the breeding season, when the female is hatching, the male 

 generally sits near her on a branch, singing. The notes are 

 not so harsh as the former ones. If this bird observes anything 

 unusual, he hops in a very excited manner, with the wings close 

 to the body, head bent downward, and stopping and listening 

 at intervals, through the trees to examine the object. When 

 satisfied, he flutters to a distance, the flight being very feeble, 

 as the wings are very short. They are very active in climbing, 

 hoppiug fi-om one branch to another, picking in decayed wood, 

 or crevices in the bark, in a similar manner to the woodpecker, 

 searching for insects and their larvae, of which they destroy a 

 number, thus being useful. They also feed on berries and 

 honey. During all this time they keep up a continual whistling. 



Curious to say, during five years' observation, in which I 

 have procured a series of specimens of Creadlon carunculatus, 

 adult and young in all stages, I never noticed any difi'erence in 

 plumage ; they were always black, with a ferruginous saddle. 



This bird is very rare on the mainland in the North Island. 

 On dissecting their crops, I found insects and minute seeds. 



Creadion cineretjs, Bxdler. — Saddleback {Tieke). 



This bird is distinct from Creadion carunculatus ; the body 

 is smaller, the bill longer and thicker, the tail also is longer, 

 and the plumage different. Its colour is a uniform olive-brown, 

 the wings and tail darker, with a reddish tint on the upper 

 and lower tail-coverts. The wattles are smaller, about a quarter 

 of an inch long, and of light yellow colour. I first saw this 

 bird in December 1877, at Greenstone Hill, near Lake Brunner, 

 and subsequently in February, 1878, at Mount Alexandra. 



