664 



Tra?isactions. 



The bell-bird was either silent or there were very few in the bush this 

 year : dming a week I heard it only on one day, and then only four times. 

 Neither was the tui so often heard. I noted that this year the gutturals 

 were again kree kraw krurr, not tin tin aurr. 



At the end of 1910, however, both tui and bell-bird were in exquisite 

 song. This year the sweet explosive note (5) was d instead of /, and the 

 bell-beat of (1) was g instead of b flat. The sound aurr aurr was constantly 

 repeated, many times in succession. I saw one bird singing the soft bub- 

 bling song between the aurr somids ; its neck was outstretched, and the 

 notes were soft, and highly pitched as a wren's. I was unable to dis- 

 tinguish any intervals — the notes glided one into the other ; and there was 

 little range — certainly not two tones. On the 25th December I heard 

 two notes possessing a new quality : — 





m 



^ J)/u diu 



These notes bubbled like water ruiniing from a bottle, but they were melo- 

 dious, and resonant, almost as a short string would be. On the 26th a 

 tui kept up for several minutes an incessant trr trr trr, a dulled sound, some- 

 what like a cork being turned in the neck of a bottle. The sweet slur (2) 

 was this year from g to /, and had a sound that may be represented by the 

 letters iweeah. The following song was very common, all the variations 

 being noted on the one day, the 26th December, 1910 : — 



^•vz, J'i'ci jua. ■■ ^i^a. 



J'V'^ /^^ 



^ 1/ y ^ Aarraurr ,.^ 



Vw Iw ^tv- 



16; 



/(nan Aran tiratr 





/frair 



The usual song was as in No. (12), the concluding note being at times g 

 and at times e. Often the concluding g was dropped an octave to the 

 ordinary treble g ; this was made quite evident when a high g followed 

 the dropped note, as in No. (11). The last g had a sound like gug, but 

 was very clear, open, and bell-like ; it was separated from the preceding 

 note by a pause twice as long as that note. Nos. (13) to (16) are simply 

 variations of (12). It sounded curious to hear the krau breaking into the 

 bell-like chime, as though the bird were clearing its throat (16). The effect 

 was rather disagreeable ; otherwise the chime is most beautiful. The 

 usual song (12) occupied about a second and a half in utterance. On the 

 27th December the followiii"' was noted : — 



gvcv. 



V 



^^ 



