Vol- _^l-] M'J.UAN, Biislt-Birds of New Zealand. 185 



chiefly towards evening in spring from the retiring birds, and is 

 very characteristic. It is a liquid, ringing set of notes, of peculiar 

 softness, and is uttered in much the same way as No. 8, but a 

 trifle faster, and the double notes may continue for long stretches. 

 No. 10 is a dominant set heard from daylight till dark in its par- 

 ticular locality. Nos. 11 and 12 have been selected from among 

 the various portions of song used by different birds, and they 

 are often interspersed with many coughs and sucking sounds. 

 No. 12 was used by one bird alone, although surrounded by many 

 of his species who were, with other notes, in good song ; and he 

 seldom varied it in the weeks I heard him sing. 



Bushmen will tell you that the Tui changes its notes every 

 three months ; but this statement is rather too definite. How- 

 ever, many observers have noticed the difference of the song in 

 separate localities, and an instance of this was particularly notice- 

 able in 1906. A characteristic set of notes (see No. 10) was first 

 heard near my last camp, in the tawa country, on 28th September, 

 and within a week or so was in use by practically every one of 

 the few Tuis in the bush, and was undoubtedly quite the dominant 

 song of that part. It was the liveliest bit of music I have listened 

 to from this species, and was new to me. Only in the following 

 autumn (1907) was it heard again, in a small patch of light bush 

 in a settled district some 15 miles from Maunga-Haumia. There 

 one of the many pairs, some of which had no doubt nested in that 

 locality, was heard singing the bush song — " Tu-la tu-la " — in 

 the first three months of that year, and was there to greet us with 

 the same tune on each of the several occasions that we passed its 

 home. Now, on the day I left the bush (14th October) this music 

 (No. 10) was much in evidence, but on the following day, 10 miles 

 away, I heard and saw in the Wheau valley (see Plate XVII.) many 

 Tuis in the best of song, but the dominant note was " Tol tol tol " 

 (No. 8) and the bush note, which was still ringing in my ears, was 

 conspicuous by its total absence. In travelling over the greater 

 part of this East Coast district many Tuis have since been 

 listened to, but, with the exception noted above, I never again 

 had the pleasure of hearing that rollicking song — a memory of 

 the distant hill. 



6th October, 1906. — At the last camp in the tawa country, 

 and not far from the nei-nei scrub : — " Another dull day. 

 Awake at 4.40 a.m.. and heard a Tui calling his galloping 

 ' Tu-la, tu-la ' [No. 10], sometimes preceded by a few other 

 whistled notes. At 5.5 the Kaka whistled three or four notes, 

 loud and shrill, from the bush close by, and five minutes after 

 called again, and then probably left to get his morning meal, for 

 I heard him no more. [This bird roosted regularly in a large birch 

 within two chains of the camp, and his notes were heard in the 

 vicinity for some weeks.] It is not yet daylight, and at 10 minutes 

 past 5 an Owl sounded his one ' Morepork.' Again, in a few 

 minutes, he calls three times and then no more. All this time 

 the Tui has been moving about in the trees, keeping up his song. 



