^°H.i^' 1 Royal Australasian Orni/holo^ists' Union. 171 



amongst the best bird pictures ever executed. The more the 

 sorrow that the talented artist was not spared to complete his 

 work. There were also seven other volumes, royal quarto size, 

 fitted into a special case, that interested members much. They 

 were each indexed (name of species in manuscript), and contained 

 manuscript references and field notes, sketches, jjencilled and 

 coloured, of birds. These have been, by the authorities of the 

 library, attributed to the great Gould. But they were more likely 

 to be Digglcs's projiosed work in embryo, esjxicially as under the 

 heading of the Coachwhip-Bird (P.so/)/K«/i'.s crepitans) was a hitherto 

 unfigured, coloured nest and eggs of that bird above the inscription 

 " S. D., Oct. 27, T863." It is important tliat the identification of 

 thes(> books be thoroughly established. 



Bush^Birds of New Zealand. 

 l^,v J. (". M'Leax, M.B.O.U.. GiSBORNE, N.Z. 

 Part III. 

 Rhipidura flabellifera — Pied Faxtail. 



Buller, " Birds of New Zealand " (2nd edition), vol. i., jx 69. 

 The Pied Fantail, though not often met with away in the main 

 bush, was fairly plentiful on its edges, and in the valleys of the 

 older country was common where an odd tree or patch of scrub 

 gave shelter. Usually a pair appeared and took up its abode 

 in the small clearing around each camp, and remained in the 

 vicinity until the end. In the heavy bush its chief resorts were 

 in the creek bottoms and other open, sunny parts, and there they 

 were very tame, but not inquisitive, generally flying to meet the 

 passer-by and settling close at hand. Following its insect food, 

 which consists of the smaller moths and midges — taken on the 

 wing — the Fantail performs its aerial evolutions, on sunny days, 

 high above the tree-tops, pausing in its erratic flight to settle and 

 sing its squeaky, twittered song from some outstanding twig ; 

 but on damp and duller days it finds its food much lower down, 

 and — almost a silent bird — hunts within a few feet of tfie ground, 

 often amid the ferns themselves. 



Fantails pair for life, and with this species quarrels, so common 

 in the spring among some other birds, are practically unknown. 

 Each pair keeps more or less about its own particular locality ; they 

 are much attached to each other, and, individually, to their home. 

 Though not sociably inclined towards others of their species, the 

 two do not resent the intrusion of others of their kind, and it is 

 not unusual to see more than one pair busy about the same tree. 

 They have been observed, however, with persistent sallies, to 

 frighten the Pied Tit from their home. The song is much more 

 noticeable in the spring, and at nesting-time the birds become 

 quite noisy in their little way. Long after dusk the plaintive 



