BuLLEB. — On the Ornithology of Netv Zealand. 15 



feathers, the builder of the nest having evidently repaired to 

 the shores of the Sound to collect them. 



Anthornis melanura, Sparrm. (The Bell-bird.) 



Mr. Eobert Mair, writing to me from Whangarei, under 

 date the 11th September, says, " I was out last week in a 

 6-ton yacht hapuku- fishing at the Poor Knights [in the 

 Hauraki Gulf] . On the largest of the Poor Knight Islands 

 there are numbers of Korimako. It was delightful to see 

 them flying from bush to bush overhead, and to hear them 

 singing their sweet notes." 



From Mrs. Halcombe, a daughter of the celebrated orni- 

 thologist, the late William Swainson, F.E.S.,''- I have received 

 the following interesting note: "Bell-birds are very plentiful 

 on the Island of Kapiti. I stayed there for nearly three 

 weeks in 1894, and every mornmg, about 4 o'clock, I was 

 charmed to hear a perfect concert from the Bell-bird. The 

 house was quite close to a beautiful piece of bush, which was 

 full of native birds, and, to judge from the noise they made, 

 the Bell-birds must have been very numerous. ... I 

 have all the tastes of my dear father, but I have not had 

 the chance to develope them. I cannot help loving all the 

 beautiful world of nature, and I wish I had the time and 

 opportunity to study all her wonderful secrets. The longest 

 lifetime, it seems to me, is all too short for the full enjoyment 

 of her treasures." 



Ajithornis melanocephala, Gray. (The Chatham Island 

 Bell-bird.) 



I have been fortunate enough to receive lately two beauti- 

 ful pairs of this species from the Chatham Islands ; but, 

 according to all accounts, the bird is very nearly extinct 

 there. 



Zosterops coerulescens, Latham. (The Bhght-bird.) 



The historv of the arrival from the South Island and 

 subsequent stay of this little migrant is familiar to all who 

 know anything of our local natural history. Its services to 

 the agriculturist and to the gardener are also pretty generally 

 recognised. But one is always glad to record fresh evidence 

 in favour of any deserving bird — especially, too, when there 

 is a widespread prejudice abroad against little birds in general, 



* It was from Mr. Swainson that I received my earliest lessons in 

 zoological drawing. He had long before published a beautiful series of 

 "Zoological Illustrations" (1820-21). "AH the figures were drawn by 

 the author, who, as an ornithological artist, had no rival in his time. 

 Every plate is not beyond criticism, but his worst drawings show more 

 knowledge of bird-life than do the best of his English or French con- 

 temporaries." (" Dictionary of Birds," p. 28.) 



