b NEW ZEALAND 15I11DS. 



"When discovered in its liiding-placo during tlie day, it is 

 found sittiufi^ upright, Avith the head drawn in, the eyes half closed, 

 and tlie feathers of the body raised, making the hird appear mueh 

 larger than it really is. It will tlicn allow a person to approach 

 within a few yards of it, and, if disturbed, Avill fly off noiselessly for 

 a short distance and attempt to secrete itself. It will often remain 

 many days, or even Aveeks, in the same piece of bush. In the 

 volcanic hills or extinct craters tliat surround the city of Auckland 

 there are numerous small caves, formed by large cracks or fissures in 

 the ancient lava-streams, the entrance to them being generally indi- 

 cated by a clump of stunted trees, growing u}) among loose blocks of 

 scoria. These gloomy recesses are a favourite resort of the ]More- 

 pork in the daytime. 



'' On the approach of night its whole nature is changed : the 

 half-closed orbits open to their full extent, the pupils expand till the 

 yellow irides are reduced to a narrow external margin, and the 

 lustrous orbs glow with animation, while all the movements of the 

 bird arc full of life and activity. It then sallies forth from its 

 hiding-place and explores in all localities, preferring, however, the 

 outskirts of the forest, where nocturnal insects a])ound, and the bush- 

 clearings in the neighbourhood of farms, or the ruins of Maori 

 villages, these places being generally infested Avith rats and mice, on 

 Avhich it chiefly subsists. Like other birds of prey, it afterwards 

 regurgitates the hair and other indigestible parts of these animals in 

 hard pellets. That the Morepork also preys on small birds there can 

 be no reasonable doubt, although it has been frequently denied." — 



BULLER. 



ORDER II. PASSERES ! PERCHING BIRDS. 



Bill, straiglit or cuvved ; legs, moderate; toes, (liree before and one bcliiiid ; claw?, 

 curved, moderate. 



HIRUNDINID.E. Savallows. 



Bill, short, very wide at the gape ; wings, long and narrow ; tail, forked ; fcot, weak. 



HiEUNDO. L. 



Bill, flattened ; first quill the longest ; tarsi, naked, shorter than the middle toe. 

 Spread over the whole world. 



6. Hirundo nigricans. Vieill. 



Head and back, blue-black ; wiugs and tail, dark brown ; forehead, ferruginous ; below 

 and over the tail, rufous-while. 



L., 5-5 ; W., 4-5 ; B., -42 ; T., -42 ; Tail, 2. 



Hah. — Australia and Tasmania, An occasional visitant. 



