(;92 THE BIRDS OF LORD HOWE AND NORFOLK ISLANDS, 



amongst the banana plantations and orchards. Its soft, slaty- 

 j^rey plumage, darker in the male than in the female, is somewhat 

 at variance with its bright orange-red eyes; and its assertive 

 manner, attitudes, and loud challenging notes are not in keeping 

 with its sober coat. I have often watched a pair attacking a 

 bunch of bananas hanging to ripen under the verandah of the 

 house where I was staying at Norfolk Island. The male would 

 utter a few calls from an adjacent pine-tree, and then dart on to 

 the iron roof, making a great clatter as he alighted. Then, 

 whistlinf' a sharp staccato note at short intervals, he would drop 

 on the bananas, rip open the ripest, and swallow large pieces of 

 iruit, uttering satished notes between mouthfuls. The female 

 would follow, with less noise and assurance, and in a few minutes 

 the empty banana skin only would remain. A sudden move- 

 ment on my part would send the birds back to the pine-tree where 

 they scolded for a while, and then returned to scoop out another 

 banana. 



The nest is a slight open structure of small twigs and dry 

 grass, placed in the hollow spout of a dead limb, or (at Norfolk 

 Island) in the trunk of a dead tree-fern, at varying heights from 

 the ground. Some that I saw at Norfolk Island were within 

 easy reach from the ground. The birds resort year after year to 

 the same nesting-place, and, if robbed, will rebuild in the same 

 spot. Breeding seasons, September to November, and February 

 to March. The Lord Howe Island local name is onomatopoetic, 

 based on the birds' usual cry. Eggs, bluish-green, sparsely 

 freckled and blotched with pale red, chiefly towards the larger 

 end. The eggs of a set generally vary considerably in size and 

 shape. Clutch, four, occasionally live. 

 Dimensions : 



(1) a, 1-02 X 0-75; 6, M2 x 0-75; c, 1-03 x 0-77; d, 1;04 x 0-75. 

 (Lord Howe, 16th Sept. 1907). 



(2) «, 1-05 X 0-75; 6, 1-02x0 75; c, Ml x 0-75; d, M2xO-72; 

 a and b are oval; c and d, biconical(Norfolk Island, 3 1st Oct. 1908). 



(3) a, 1-04 X 0-75; b, 1-04 x 0-75; c, 0-91 x 077; d, 090 x 0-64; 

 (Norfolk Island, 20th Feb. 1909). 



