114 THE ANIMALS OF NEW ZEALAND 



for his trouble, as he had visited the hihi, as the Maoris call it, 

 in its last home.* 



Genus AntJiornis. 



Bill equal to the head, curved. First quill rather long, the 

 second abruptly narrowed near the tip in the adult, acutely 

 pointed in the young; fifth the longest. Tail emarginate. New 

 Zealand onl.y. 



The Bell-Bird. — Korimako (North Island) and Makomako 



(South Island). 

 Anthornis melanura. 



Male — Yellowish olivaceous, the head tinged with steel black. Winga 

 and tail brownish black. Eye blood red. Length of the wing, 3.5 in.; 

 of the tarsus, 1 in. Female and young — Brownish olivaceous; wings 

 and tail, brown; a white line from the bill towards the sides of the 

 neck. The female is rather smaller than the male. Egg — Pinkish 

 white, with irregular markings of reddish brown, principally near the 

 larger end. Both islands and the Auckland Islands. 



Over a hundred years ago Captain Cook described the delight 

 he experienced when this bird's splendid song first fell upon his 

 ears. It was in Queen Charlotte Sound, when the ship of the 

 navigator was about a quarter of a mile from shore. "And in 

 the morning, "he says," we were awakened by the singing of the 

 birds. The number was incredible, and they seemed to strain 

 their throats in emulation of each other. This wild melody was 

 infinitely superior to any that we have ever heard, of the same 

 kind : it seemed to me like small bells, most exquisitely tuned ; and 

 perhaps the distance and the water between might be no small 

 advantage to the sound." 



The bell-bird spends a great deal of its time in the summer 

 sipping nectar from the blooms of the phormium tenax, and other 

 plants. Very often it is seen in company -with its friend the tui. 

 IVIr. W. W. Smith, who has watched these two birds closely, says 



*By J. Drummond, in the Sydney Morning Herald, June 1st, 1907. 



