40 A NEW ZEALAND NATURALIST'S CALENDAR. 



A Japanese quince (Cydonia japonica) growing under the 

 window, and which at this season is covered with its 

 clusters of scarlet blossoms, proves very attractive to 

 korimakos, and occasionally to tuis. The former is one of 

 the few native birds which has not become rare in this 

 neighbourhood. The profusion of flowers in the gardens 

 proves attractive to it, and it is apparently too active and 

 too fond of the high branches of shrubs and small trees to 

 suffer from the cats which abound. Its song, consisting of 

 a succession of liquid bell-like notes, seems to gurgle out of 

 its throat. The bird itself is rather smaller and of more 

 slender build than a thrush, of a bright olive-green colour 

 on the body, with darker almost blackish tints on the 

 wings and tail, and a buish hue about the sides of the head. 

 It hops restlessly from branch to branch the very embodi- 

 ment of activity, twisting itself in and out among the 

 bright blossoms, and momentarily dipping its tongue into 

 each flower. Sometimes it lights on the ground to reach a 

 bunch of blossoms hanging low down on the plant, but its 

 movements there seemed constrained and stiff, whereas on 

 the bi'anches its actions are sinuous and graceful. 



The tui is a handsome glossy black bird whose feathers 

 shine with iridescent hues in the changing light ; its tufts 

 of white feathers at the sides of the neck suggesting a 

 parson's bands. Like the korimako it is a honey-bird, with 

 somewhat similar bell-like notes, though it can and does 

 mimic many other songsters. It is a bold dashing bird and 

 can hold its own against all the introduced species. 



Another bird which occasionally visits the garden is the 

 long-tailed cuckoo.* Usually its screech is to be heard in 

 the neighbourhood of Dunedin about the second week of 

 November, but this year one made its appearance in the 

 wooded gully below my house in the middle of October. 

 By the second or third week of February these birds 

 usually take their departure for the sunny isles of the 

 South Pacific, where they pass the winter season, returning 

 to New Zealand to breed. 



* Urodynamis Taitensis. 



