MARCH. 67 



come more about dwellings, while wax-eyes are frequently 

 very abundant. These latter are among the useful visitors 

 in the garden and orchard ; they are continually busy 

 among the foliage and branches of trees in search of small 

 insects, from which habit they have acquired one of their 

 popular names, that of blight birds. Among introduced 

 species I find several records of chaffinches seen in the 

 month of March. The way in which these pretty birds 

 appear and disappear in various districts is worth recording. 



Has anyone seen robin redbreasts recently? A young 

 friend told me that when walking over Flagstaff Hill with 

 a companion two strange birds flew close to where he was, 

 near enough for him to notice that they had bright red 

 breasts. He thought they were about the size of small 

 sparrows. Considering that no less than forty of these 

 birds were liberated in the neighbourhood of Dunedin in 

 1885, and twenty more in the following year, it is rather 

 remarkable that (as far as I know) only one record of 

 their appearance has been made since Mr A. C. Begg 

 having seen one in his garden in Roslyn several years ago. 

 The birds seen on Flagstaff Hill were probably red-poles, 

 which are common along the east and south coasts of this 

 island. 



Insects are relatively abundant in March. About this 

 time of year a small stinging fly, appropriately named 

 Stomo.cys, makes its appearance, especially in country 

 districts, and irritates both man and beast. Probably it 

 is well known to many. It is rather smaller than a house- 

 fly, quicker in its movements, and when it lights down on 

 its prey it makes a clean puncture, and, if undisturbed 

 draws a little blood. It can stab through a single garment, 

 and is fond of attacking the legs. 



Drone flies, which resemble hive-bees except in the 

 slowness of their flight, also appear this month, though 

 they are commoner later. Their larvae, which resemble 

 large maggots with rat-tails appended, are commonly 

 found in stagnant water. Moths and butterflies of many 

 species are also abundant. The latter group is not repre- 

 sented by many species in these islands, and near the 



