FIELD NATURALISTS' CLUB. 267 



writers. 1 It can be heard in the flat forest at a distance of about 

 GOO yards. Waterton, it may be remembered, says the " toll " 

 of Chasmorhynchv,8 niveus may be heard at a "distance of three 

 miles." The bok is sometimes uttered with much regularity 

 about every ten seconds ; at other times longer or shorter 

 intervals may elapse. At a distance of four or five hundred 

 yards it resembles the stroke of an axe on hard, resonant wood. 

 One would now imagine that the bird was within seventy-five 

 yards, so deceptive is the nature of this note. As one approaches, 

 the cull does not seem to increase in volume and one is apt to 

 imagine that the bird is retreating slowly from tree to tree. This 

 impression, however, is dispelled when one comes within one 

 hundred yards of the bird, for the sound then becomes much 

 louder until, as one gets directly beneath the caller, its volume is 

 simply tremendous. It now has a slightly rolling quality — 

 brr-r-ock — and is so abrupt and explosive in character that it is 

 nearly as startling as the unexpected report of a gun. At each 

 utterance of this note the bird opens his bill to its widest extent 

 and throws his head forward and downward with a violent, con- 

 vulsive jerk as if he were in a passion and striking viciously at 

 some rival. This motion is so violent that the bird evidently has 

 some difficulty in maintaining his footing during its delivery as 

 well as in recovering his balance afterward. 



The second note, tui, is much softer and is delivered from six 

 to eleven times in such rapid succession that the notes form an 

 unbroken series. Despite this, each tui is closely followed by a 

 metallic ting which sounds exactly like an echo and appears to be 

 of about the same duration and nearly as loud as the note it sup- 

 plements. The tui notes are given so quickly that at first it did 

 not seem possible for the bird to produce another note between 

 them, and it was only after repeated observations we became 

 convinced that the ting was an integral part of the tui call. While 

 uttering these notes the bird sits rather erect and perfectly 

 motionless save for a slight tremulous movement of the throat 

 and tail which accompanies the delivery of each tui. 



The third note, tang, is also repeated a number of times — 

 eighteen to thirty-three, — in quick succession. It sounds much 

 louder than the tui and the intervals between the notes, though 

 bhort, are well marked. Sometimes the bird began slowly and 

 gradually increased the rapidity of its utterance, at others there 

 were regular intervals between the notes. The tang may be 

 likened to the sound produced by striking a piece of bar iron a 

 sharp blow with a hammer. It is accompanied or followed by a 

 distinctly metallic but not clear, ringing vibration. At a distance 

 of one hundred yards the tang sounds like a slow strumming on 



1 Cf. Taylor, Ibis, 18O4, p. 88. 



