^■"'isi^"] HAEUSLER. Xotes on the Kkci 179 



motionless, lej^s apart, head turned towards a dark corner and 

 I>ills touching the ground. 



'J'here can he no douht that some of the peculiar habits of 

 Kiwis are means of protection from natural enemies. 



New Zealand possessing no indigenous mammals or birds which 

 could possibly do harm to birds the size of the Apteryx, these 

 habits, as well as the protective colouring, must be looked upon 

 as survivals from a long distant past, probably from the time 

 when these islands formed a part of a vast continental mass of 

 land. Nothing very definite is yet known on this subject, but 

 some conclusions may perhaps be drawn from the unusual be- 

 haviour of the birds in ])resence of domesticated animals, the cat 

 and the dog. Of my cat, the two birds which form the subject 

 of this paper took no notice whatever. Of this fact the cat was 

 soon so well aware that he often invited himself to dinner, taking 

 for his share the best pieces of meat within easy reach of their 

 bills, without being in the least interfered with. Neither did the 

 birds take any notice of my dog, a full-grown Collie, while he 

 on his part seemed greatly interested in their strange doings. 

 When they were both in their yard he would often sit near the 

 wire and watch them as they i)assed and repassed him in their 

 usual tour round their yard. Although they often passed almost 

 near enough to touch him, they did not show any sign of alarm. 

 This utter absence of instinctive fear may be an indication that 

 the natural enemies, which preyed upon the ancestors of the 

 Kiwis, were not representatives of the order of carnivorous 

 mammals. 



An Ascent of the Blue Wren. — When near the River Mersey 

 on the morning of 28th July, I noticed a male Wren (M alums 

 cyaneus) in full plumage sitting upon a gum stump. When I 

 was within a few yards he suddenly rose vertically into the air 

 to the height of 16 or 18 feet, singing the while, like a miniature 

 Skylark. He then descended in a slanting line to a near-by 

 fence, from which he rose in a minute or two to repeat the per- 

 formance. This trait in our bird was new to me, although it is. 

 of course, an almost everyday sight to see one singing on top 

 of a spray of tea-tree or other scrub in early spring. Sometimes 

 the female will suddenly mount to a similar point of vantage and 

 sing a hurried strain. The morning when the ascent occurred 

 was very fine, with brisk south-east breeze, and this no doubt 

 contributed to the Wren's unusual winter display. The .same 

 day, about noon, near Latrobe I noticed another Mahirns in 

 brown and grey, but with a mottled appearance about the cheeks 

 and mantle, as if the colour was just breaking through; this I 

 took to be a voung male just coming into his tints. — H. Stuart 

 Dove, W. De'vonport, Tasmania, 23/8/1922. 



