4 M'Lean, The Fcvn-Bird of Nciv Zealand. \ f-"!", 



T^ ' ' \_2na July 



down in a tussock growing in or near the edge of a swamp. 

 One was noticed more to the edge and high up in a cutting- 

 grass bush. Nests have been taken from rush bushes, nigger- 

 heads, cutting-grass, and a stunted form of nigger-head which 

 grows in drier spots. Sir Walter Buller notes the rareness of its 

 discovery, and mentions that those found had the stems of the 

 plants built into the material of the nest. With those observed 

 by myself this has not been the case. There has been no inter- 

 weaving or inclusion of any stem of the plant with the walls of 

 the nest, and it can be lifted out bodily without a single stem 

 drawing through the material. The nest is difficult to locate 

 even when the bird is flushed from the tussock, as it is wonder- 

 fully protected, being built of the same coloured material as 

 occurs deep down in the tussock, and the feathers of the lining 

 are inclined to curl inwards at the rim and hide the eggs. I 

 examined one tussock three times before finding the nest. All 

 I have met with have been found through flushing the bird, and 

 although I have watched the builders with material in their 

 beaks I have never yet succeeded in tracing one to its nest. 

 Considerable anxiety is evinced by the birds when the nest is 

 investigated, one of the pair being more conspicuous by its 

 calling than the other. If the nest is approached quietly and 

 the tussock peered into, the bird may be seen sitting on the 

 eggs with head and tail almost vertical. There is a slightly 

 enlarged opening through the blades to the nest, facing the 

 swamp ; this is the only way of egress. 



The nest is a deep cup-shaped structure, and not dome- 

 shaped, as stated by Dixon in Seebohm's " History of British 

 Birds" (Introduction, vol. ii., p. 17). I do not find the nest to 

 be a frail structure at all ; when it is lifted out and examined 

 one is at once struck by its rigidity. Certainly, if a feather or 

 two of the lining be misplaced it may be seen through, and no 

 doubt will not stand exposure and handling in collections for 

 long ; but it is so strongly constructed as to appear like a 

 miniature wicker basket from which a quantity of feathers have 

 been emptied, a few still remaining attached to the inside. I 

 have not noticed any feathers among the walls — simply a few 

 inside for lining. The walls are very neatly woven, and the 

 only ragged part is the base of the nest or foundation. It 

 must be hard work for the birds starting a nest in the centre 

 of a tussock, as the stems have a fair amount of spring 

 in them, and would be hard to keep apart. This 

 trouble — or, rather, the result — is noticeable in one nest in 

 particular. It was taken from a cutting-grass tussock, the saw- 

 edged cutting leaves of which are very stiff" and irregular. The 

 birds have evidently struck stems so stiff" at certain parts that 

 the material is all bent sharply at definite corners, and the result 

 is a peculiar heart-shaped structure. Another, from a rush bush, 



