SEPTEMBER. 163 



neighbours or of the introduced species. The long-tailed 

 cuckoo seems to be one of their pet aversions, and when 

 these birds arrive, later in the season, the tuis frequently 

 advertise the fact and give them a severe hackling. 



The korimako is one of our commonest native birds and 

 is a frequent visitor in town gardens. It builds, somewhat 

 later in the spring, in similar situations to the tui, usually 

 at no great height from the ground, and its nest is nearly 

 always lined with feathers which are often selected 

 apparently for their bright colours. The eggs are 

 generally four in number, smaller than the tui's, and of a 

 white or pink colour marked with streaks, dots, or blotches 

 of red or purple. 



Down both sides of the harbour and in all similar 

 localities the kingfisher (Halcyon vaga ns) is still commonly 

 to be met with. It is one of the most beautifully plumaged 

 birds in New Zealand, but is very shy of men. It always 

 makes its nest in the extremity of a sloping-xip tunnel, 

 which it excavates in a bank or near a decaying tree or 

 even in an old sod fence. The tunnel is quite narrow, and 

 from a foot to a foot and a-half long, and in the little 

 chamber at the upper end the bird lays from five to seven 

 rather large glossy white eggs. 



One more of our delightful native birds, which unfortun- 

 ately has disappeared from the neighbourhood of settle- 

 ment a victim to its habits of trustfulness, is the native 

 robin, and this bird commences housekeeping in the 

 month of September. Mr Potts, whom I have quoted 

 before as an observant naturalist, writes very fully of 

 its nesting habits, and with this quotation I shall close this 

 note: "The nest is often placed amongst the steeply- 

 ridged roots of a mighty tree near a creek, or on a bossy 

 protuberance on the rugged stem, or perhaps it may be 

 observed neatly filling a hollow, matching so well the 

 moss-tinted russet-brown bark with its cleverly selected 

 material that it is difficult for the eye to detect the robin's 

 home. Amongst the different kinds of material that are so 



