70 THE ANIMALS OF NEW ZEALAND 



made by Sir Walter Buller, is related to the thrushes, but the 

 bill is thicker, the wings shorter, and the plumage more lax. 

 Professor Garrod says that it is a non-migratory thrush, which 

 has been modified for a graminivorous diet. 



Genus Turnagra. 

 Bill higher than broad, arched above. Tip of the wing formed 

 by the fourth to the sixth quills, the first about two-thirds the 

 length of the second. 



Key to the Species. 



Throat olive streaked with white. T. crassirostris. 



Throat white. T. tauagra. 



The South Island Thrush. — Piopio. 



Turnagra crassirostris. 



Above olive brown; below olivaceous, streaked with white, tinged 

 witli yellow on the abdomen. Tail and some of the wing-coverts rufous. 

 Eye yellow. Length of the wing, 5 in.; of the tarsus, 1.25 in. The sexes 

 are alike. The young are rufous on the head and throat. Egg — White, 

 spotted with dark brown; length 1.45 in. South Island. 



The North Island Thrush. — Piopio. 



Turnagra tauagra. 



Above olive brown. Throat white, breast olivaceous grey, abdomen 

 yellowish white. Tail rufous. Length of the wing, 1.25 in. Eye yellow. 

 The sexes are alike. The young birds are marked with rufous on the 

 head, and have a band of the same colour on the breast. North Island. 



The native thrushes were among the first birds to beat a hasty 

 retreat to the interior when human beings came to transform the 

 flora; but up in the mountains and in the river gorges, these 

 birds may still be seen hopping about the bush glades, after the 

 manner of thrushes in England. 



As early as 1871, Mr. Potts, in some of his charming notes on 

 natural subjects, deplored the fact that the thrush was disappear- 

 ing from Banks Peninsula and other parts of Canterbury. He 

 saw in this bird a philosopher, with quite as good a claim to the 

 title as that of many luiman beings to whom it has been accorded. 

 "Whoever doubts this," said the enthusiastic naturalist, "may* 



