THE LONG-TAILED CUCKOO 137 



the bird is a migrant, but cannot say positively. He. like Mr. 

 Layard, thinks that the birds must have been born on the islands 

 in which they were found. But the hypothesis that the young 

 birds leave New Zealand early in March, and, passing through 

 New Caledonia, reach the Solomon Islands early in April, would 

 fit the facts very well. 



It is stated that the tuis never lose an opportunity of persecut- 

 ing the long-tailed cuckoos. The tuis seem to have a natural 

 aversion to the robbers, probably because they fear that their 

 nests will be robbed, and that they themselves will be saddled 

 with the burden of rearing another bird's young. ]\Ir. W. W. 

 Smith has seen tuis utter a wild-alarm call, boldly assail a 

 cuckoo, and pursue it through the bush. As the cuckoo' is able 

 to offer only a feeble resistance to a number of angry tuis, it seeks 

 safety in flight, and its superiority in this respect soon takes it 

 out of danger, at any rate for the time being. 



This species has a shrill, clear, and piercing cry, which is 

 repeated at intervals. Its habits generally are supposed to be 

 similar to those of the shining cuckoo. 



A long, exhaustive, and interesting paper on the habits of the 

 long-tailed cuckoo was read by Dr. R. Fulton at the meeting of 

 the Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science at 

 Dunedin in January, 1904. He stated that this bird generally 

 chose an open or cup-shaped nest in which to deposit its egg, and 

 not a domed or covered-in nest. He found that the commonest 

 host in both islands was the native canary, but the tui, the robin. 

 the tomtit, the Avhite-eye, and some of the imported birds were 

 also imposed upon. He had received abundance of evidence as 

 to the long-tailed cuckoo's robbing propensities, but he expressed 

 an opinion that this was a comparatively modern failing, due to 

 the prevalence of the nests of small imported birds in the trees 

 on the edge of the bush, where the cuckoo usually shelters. Dr. 

 Fulton described its semi-nocturnal habits, and added: "The 

 moment our cuckoo shows itself in the daytime it is pounced upon 

 by all the small-fry in the way of native birds, who pursue and 

 torment it until it reaches the safety of the long grass or thicket. 

 Sometimes, w^hen the cuckoo is chased by the tui, it will settle 



