6 M'Lean, The Fern-Bird of Neiv Zealand. [^nThx\y 



evenly but more thinly distributed larger markings of a purple- 

 brown. The violet markings are sometimes a little thicker at 

 the larger end, giving a slight suggestion of a zone, and are very 

 small, and fairly constant as to size, not being larger than a pin's 

 head, while the purple-brown ones are irregular in shape and 

 size, varying, on some eggs, from the size of a pin-point to twice 

 or three times the size of a pin's head. Neither tint stands out 

 prominently from the ground colour. 



Both birds assist in building and tending the young, and, I 

 expect, share in the hatching of the eggs, but I have no direct 

 proof of this latter. 



The following table of a nest observed last season (in 

 December, 1905) will give an idea as to the length of time 

 involved in rearing a brood : — 



Nov. 24th. — Found nearly completed nest. 



Nov. 26th. — Observed both birds building. 



Nov. 27th. — Nest complete. 



Nov. 29th. — I Qgg in afternoon. 



Nov. 30th. — 2 eggs in afternoon. 



Dec. 1st. — 3 eggs in afternoon. 



Dec. 3rd. — 4 eggs in morning — evidently last laid on 2nd. Bird 



on nest. 

 Dec. 4th. — Bird sitting. 

 Dec. 17th. — Young hatched last night. 

 Dec. 1 8th to 28th. — Young observed in nest. 

 Dec. 30th. — Young at nest, but scattered as soon as approached. 

 Dec. 31st. — 2 young caught at nest. 

 Jan. 2nd. — No young in nest in daytime ; found them there just 



after sunset. 

 Jan. 6th. — Nest completely deserted. 

 Jan. loth. — Saw 2 young with i old bird out in swamp. 



The eggs are laid daily, evidently in the morning, and incuba- 

 tion lasts 12^ days, the young leaving the nest about the 

 fifteenth day. 



The young are born absolutely naked and blind, not a trace 

 of down showing, but on the second day the quill feathers of 

 wing and tail are just breaking, and a dark, shield-shaped patch 

 underlies the skin over the lumbar region. This latter breaks 

 through on the third day, and advances rapidly in growth, as do 

 all the feather tracts. The chick grows at a great rate, and the 

 well-developed legs and feet are very noticeable from the start. 

 The eye is fully open on the third day. Full descriptions of 

 the development of the young were made at the time, but must 

 form the subject of a separate article. The ventral tract of 

 feathers, starting under the chin, branches at the point of the 

 sternum into wide arms, one on each side of the breast. These 

 immediately branch again, one branch going along under the 



