Andersen. — New Zealand Bird-song. 



597 



be a brown creeper. I described the bird and its call to Mr. Cunningham, 

 the surveyor, and he said it was known in the North Island as the hauriki- 

 riki, and that its liveliness was always a sign of spring and a spell of fine 



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weather. The song (6) was heard in the Stony Bay Bush on the 13th 

 January, 1912, and other days : the full song only occasinally ; more 

 often it would break off after the first or second slur. In the achromatic 

 drop ending the song seven or eight notes were sounded, so there may 

 be intervals here even less than quarter-tones ; the run had the sound of 

 whistling through water, and occupied about one second. 



The Bush-canary. 



I saw one bush-canary whilst travelling on the coach towards Kanieri 

 Township, and it uttered the pleasant slurred note (1), which sounded very 

 like the familiar sweet of its cage namesake. 



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The Blight-bird. 



The common call, always heard when the bird moves about searching 

 for food, is as in (3), a clear, plaintive slur. 



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(4) was heard at Mount Misery, Hokitika, whilst two birds sat in a tree 

 preening themselves and moving about : it was the faintest twitter, barely 

 audible, though the birds were only 10ft. to 12 ft. distant. 



The Sea-marten (Tern). 



Two sea-martens, or sea-swallows, were flying above the shingly Hokitika 

 River bed on the 6th September, 1914, uttering the notes in (4) and (5 



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sometimes the single whistling notes of (4), and sometimes a single vibrato 

 drop from c to a (five notes to the vibrato) uttered more loudly. The notes 



