384 Letters, Extracts, and Notes. 



colour, is marked with symmetrically arranged black spots — 

 five on the palate, two on the tongue, and one under the 

 tongue. The whole arrangement seems to serve the purpose 

 of making the open mouth conspicuous. 



1 am^ Sirs, yours &c., 



Kribi, Kamerun, Geo. L. Bates. 



October 11th, 1008. 



Sirs, — I wish to bring to your notice three notes on oui 

 New Zealand birds, which are, I think, worthy of record : — 



(1) In the Trans. N.Z. Inst. (vol. xxxvi. p. 119) is a 

 reference to parasitic Cuckoos occasionally reverting to the 

 habit of nest-building. I have just had a most authentic 

 account of the feeding by two adults of five little Bronze 

 Cuckoos [Chalcococcyx lucidus), the gradual teaching to fly, 

 and, finally, the discovery of a nest with the feathers of the 

 adult birds in and about it. 



This conduct by a bird so universally considered strictly 

 parasitic is extremely interesting, and if you will refer to the 

 Trans. Austr. Assoc, for the Adv. of Sci. (vol. x. p. 323) 

 you will find reference to similar habits of Cuckoos in India. 

 This is another step towards the elucidation of the strange 

 habit of parasitism. 



(2) In vol. xl. of Trans. N.Z. Inst, now to hand you 

 will find (p. 498) a most remarkable instance of sagacity or 

 instinct in a pair of Paradise-Ducks {Casarca variegata). 

 They were surprised in the bush and instantly took to the 

 water with ten little ones. Entering the rushing sw^ollen 

 torrent they sailed out diagonally, one with its beak to the 

 other's tail, and all the little ones settled against and above 

 them as they battled across the stream. 



(3) The Dotterel of New Zealand [Charadrius dicinctus) is 

 a clever deceiver and performs many curious antics to lead 

 an intruder from its nest. A reliable observer says : — " On 

 starting a Dotterel out of her nest, her antics were 

 of the usual kind, fluttering away in front of me, as though 

 with a broken wing. Suddenly I saw her drop alongside of a 



