482 Transactions. — Miscellaneous. 



3. On Some of our Indigenous Forest Birds. 



I have been much grieved of late in my visits to the forests 

 to find scarcely any birds : in this respect so very different from 

 what the woods formerly were, when they were gay with their 

 company, and resounded to their melody and screams. Some 

 species of the old familiar wood-denizens seem to have become 

 quite extinct, as they are now never met wath. During this 

 extended visit of mine to the woods I have noticed only a fev/ 

 birds of three distinct kinds in the forests — viz., the ttiuii, or 

 parson-bird;''' the hotare, or kingfisher;! and ilie inivaha- 

 ivaJca, or flycatcher;]: — and very few indeed of these. On some 

 daj's, and during some hours spent in traversing the woods, I 

 have not observed nor heard a single indigenous bird. It is, 

 however, very pleasing to hear the deep and rich loud notes 

 of a parson-bird perched high on a topmost and exposed 

 branch of a tall tree — his favourite position when singing — 

 especially at sunset, when it is as a call to vespers. Very 

 likely its song is now considered the more melodious from its 

 rarity. I am of opinion that the cock-bird sings to its mate 

 when she is sitting in her nest hatching her eggs. It is a very 

 pleasing sight to see a pair of them together diligently occu- 

 pied in extracting honey from the tree-flowers, especially when 

 the sun is shining on their glossy, submetallic, dark plumage. 

 I have in former years seen tw^o and three pairs together so 

 employed in one small tree. On such occasions, if unobserved 

 by them, and one keeps quiet, they maybe pleasingly watched 

 for some time, as their whole attention seems to be given to 

 their sweet and profitable labour. 



The kingfisher, being a shy bird, and generally making its 

 nest in steep cliffs by sides of streams, is rarely seen at this 

 season away from its breeding-place. I have seen more of 

 them in my garden and fields on the hill at Napier, in the 

 winter season, than I have ever seen together in the woods. 

 At Napier they catch crickets, mice, &c., and are very service- 

 able. Mr. S. G. Brandon, of Meanee, once sent me a king- 

 fisher that he had found very recently dead in his paddock. 

 It had a large mouse in its beak, a little more than half- 

 swallowed. No doubt the living mouse had in its death- 

 struggles bitten and clawed and held on to the bird's throat, 

 so that both had miserably perished together. Here, in the 

 bush, I noticed a pair of them having their nest in a hole 

 near the top of a tall dead tree denuded of its bark, that was 

 at least 40ft. high, and which stood at the edge of a wood by a 

 small stream. A large bushy tuft of the long-leaved epiphyte 



* Prostlicmadcra novce-zealandics, 



t Halcyon vagans. 



I PJiipidura flahclUfera. 



