164 A NEW ZEALAND NATURALIST'S CALENDAR. 



judiciously chosen may be found moss, roots, hair-like 

 scales of Dicksonia, or the darker scales of Hemitelia and 

 Oyathea (should those beaxitiful tree-ferns grow near), dead 

 leaves, fine grasses, slender sprays, webs, sometimes a few 

 feathers, on a broad foundation of thick coarse moss. The 

 structure is raised by the careful entwining of the material 

 till, with a sloping front, the nest measures across the top 

 some five or six inches. The cup has a diameter of three 

 inches, while its depth is from an inch and a-quarter to 

 nearly two inches. The eggs vary in number from two 

 to four." They are usually white or creamy in colour, and 

 marked with grey, purple, or brown. 



II. 



In connection with the introduction and acclimatisation 

 of all animals in a new land, there is a subject which 

 merits and will well repay investigation namely, to 

 observe whether they undergo any change themselves 

 under their altered conditions, or cause the indigenous 

 fauna and flora to alter in any way. Leaving out of 

 account the tremendous alteration which has taken place 

 in the insect fauna by the introduction of so many kinds of 

 insectivorous birds for the subject is too vast and too 

 imperfectly studied to generalise upon I may point out 

 that so far very little, if any, alteration has yet been 

 observed either in the birds themselves or in their habits. 

 Yet it is probable that such will take place in course of 

 time, and records of them should be made as they occur. 

 Even odd and isolated cases are worthy of being noted. 

 Thus an amusing instance was narrated to me the other 

 day of a tui which was heard in the Town Belt successfully 

 mimicking the song of a thrush on a neighbouring tree. 

 The tui is a noted mimic, and seems to take delight in 

 imitating the notes of other birds, and when caged is a 

 very apt learner. The bird I refer to here has been noticed 

 by at least two observers, so that I think there can be no 

 mistake about the facts. Well do I remember a splendid 

 tui which belonged to a Dunedin lady, which used to take 

 delight in barking like a dog at visitors, and then cooeing 



