1^2 M'Lean, Bush-Birds of Neiv Zealand. [ist^Tan 



" Tweet " of this bird has been heard in the bush, as if it had lost 

 its mate in the darkness. 



With regard to their tameness, they are by no means shy. It 

 is interesting to note a Fantail fly towards the passer-by ; but one 

 suspects some cupboard love on many occasions, for often a tiny 

 moth is started into flight by one's brushing against the ferns or 

 branches in travelling through the bush, and the bird is quick to 

 see and take advantage. It has been seen elsewhere to sail out 

 and accompany a horseman for some distance along the muddy 

 road. There the bird would skim from side to side, snapping up 

 the disturbed midges from almost under the horse's nose. These 

 insects, safe in the puddled hoof-marks, could only have been 

 obtained by the help of some such agency. The bird knew it 

 well, for this performance was noted on many different days. 



In the lower country the Fantail is one of the first to build, and 

 eggs may be found in the middle of September ; but here, at this 

 higher altitude, it did not appear to nest so early. Several 

 nests, which the birds were building, were noted towards the end 

 of September in each year, and it was noticeable that in the heavy 

 bush the nests were always much higher up than in the open 

 country. One in particular, which was being finished off on 29th 

 September, was about 40 feet up on the branch of a tall tawhera ; 

 another was being built on the same date 20 feet from the ground 

 amid the branches of a tawa. On 27th September in the fol- 

 lowing year, while passing across one of the small flats on the 

 Urukokomoko stream, far in the heavy bush, " a Fantail was 

 noticed at work on something other than food, low about the base 

 of a large tree — something out of the common on a sunny day 

 like this. Away it went direct to a sapling tawhera, which, with 

 others of its species, grew in an open glade over a wet spot covered 

 with ferns and moss, and disappeared in its leafy top. At the 

 same moment another flew out of the tree, and examination 

 showed the nest 12 or 15 feet up. on one of the small branches, 

 amid the mass of dark green leaves. Both birds were busy con- 

 structing with web and moss the nest, shuffiing inside, and using 

 beak and wings to smooth the outside of the wall. The material 

 was collected within two chains of the site, from near the ground. 

 While one bird built the other gathered stuff, plucking particles 

 here and there from the butts of the trees, and, when its beak 

 was full, going off in direct flight low down and mounting up the 

 branches of the sapling to the nest Immediately on the arrival 

 of one bird its mate quitted the nest and went in search of more 

 material. Only once did one pause in its gathering to catch an 

 insect or two and sing its song — a squeaky ' Te-wa,' repeated 

 eight or ten times in quick succession." 



That the Pied Fantail is quick to adapt itself to circumstances, 

 and by so doing is likely to survive, is shown by its nesting amid 

 the altered conditions presented in the country swept by fire the 

 preceding summer. The bush had vanished, and not a green leaf 

 or twig remained. The sward of grass was thin, and now fed 



