NATURAL HISTORY NOTES IN NEW ZEALAND. 184 
English bird. Heis an unshapely and comical looking creature, the head 
being abnormally big and the beak very strong. It struck me, after 
seeing the Australian “ Laughing Jackass,” that the New Zealand 
kingfisher is a near relative, and its notes are something like the 
latter’s. Perched upon a log or overhanging trunk of a tree the 
kingfisher darts into the receding tide, and seldom fails to bring up 
a small crab, a leander, or a fish. He is also an expert at seizing the 
earth worm. 
The ‘next two birds given by Buller, in the order “ Picariz,” 
are the long tailed and the shining cuckoos, both migratory birds 
from Australia. It has puzzled me to understand how birds of such 
weak flight can negotiate the 1,200 miles of water across the Tasman 
Sea. 
The long tailed cuckoo (ENDYNAMIS TITENSIS) arrives in New 
Zealand about the beginning of November, when the Spring is well 
advanced. About the size of the English cuckoo, and similarly 
marked, it has a tail six or eight inches in length and a hooked beak. 
It is a great ventriloquist, and, though near at hand, judging by the 
harsh rasping scream, one can scarcely find its whereabouts, till the 
crouching bird is seen stealing along a branch, in the manner of a 
reptile rather than a bird, in search of young birds and eggs. 
The Shining Cuckoo (Curysoccyx Lucipvs) is barely larger than 
a greenfinch, and whilst having the characteristic markings of a 
cuckoo, hasa metallic lustre, which gives its name to the beautiful little 
bird. The shining cuckoo has a pleasant and plaintive ventriloquial 
note, frequents orchards and gardens at the time of the hatching out 
of the codlin moth (CARPocAPSA POMONELLA), and is a benefactor to 
the settler. Both cuckoos use the nests of other birds, and disappear 
in the early Autumn. 
There are four birds classed as honey eaters(MeuirHacip#). The 
silver-eye, ring-eye, or blight bird (ZosTERoPs LATERALIS) is one of 
