682 THE BIRDS OF LORD HOWE AND NORFOLK ISLANDS, 



Hah. — Lord Ho.we Island. 



The sweetly mournful note of this bird somewhat resembles- 

 that of Gerygone albigularis, in that it is chromatic, but it is more 

 staccato and varied in its tones. By some of the Islanders it is 

 called "Pop-goes-the- Weasel," it being considered that its song 

 resembles that ancient air. The birds are fairly numerous, flying 

 briskly about the tree-tops; and are especially active in the- 

 pursuit of small insects after a shower of rain. 



I did not succeed in finding a nest of this bird, but it was 

 described to me by the islanders as being a dome-shaped structure,, 

 with entrance at the side, having a projecting hood. 



481(M). 63.RHIPIDURA PELZELNi Gray. 



Pelzeln's Fantail; Fantail(N.I.) 



Rhipiditra 'yelzelni^ Ramsay, p.37; North, 'Nests and Eggs,'^ 

 p.409. 



Hah. — Norfolk Island. 



This confiding little Fantail is closely allied to the Lord Howe 

 Island species, and its nest is similarly constructed with either a 

 very rudimentary " tail," or with none at all. It is placed in the 

 fork of a wild tobacco plant, often quite close to the ground, or 

 on a horizontal twig of a " currajong " tree, or amongst the thick 

 leaves of one of the lower branches of a bloodwood tree. It is 

 constructed of tufts of short cowhair, mosses, ifec, woven together, 

 and outwardly covered with cobweb ornamented with splinters. 

 of decayed pine, lined with long tail-hairs of horse or cow. 



The bird is very familiar, and will hover round one's head, or 

 pick a fly from the face or hand of a recumbent person. 



Eggs, clutch two to three (North, on the authority of Dr. 

 Metcalfe, three or four), short oval in form, white, glossy, with 

 pale yellow-brown markings, and sufl'used bluish-grey blotches 

 and spots, scattered over the w^hole shell, or forming a cap or 

 zone at the larger end. 



Dimensions : 

 (l)a,0-65 X 0-50; ^»,0-64 x 0-50;c,0-62 x 0-50(lGth November,1908). 

 (2)a,0-62 X 0-50; 6,0-62 x 0-47; c,0-60 x 0-50(21st October, 1908). 

 (3)«,0-63 X 0-50; 6,0-64 x 0-50; c,0-63 x 0-50(lst November, 1908> 



