SEPTEMBER. 165 



to them as they went away. I was once walking from the 

 house to the gate, when a gentle but persistent coo-ey 

 caused me to turn back to see who wanted me ; as soon as 

 the bird saw me coming near the house he began to 

 bark. I did not tumble to the fact, as the Yankees call 

 it, that both sounds came from the same throat, and 

 thinking I had made some mistake went off again once 

 more towards the gate, when at once the rascal began to 

 coo-ey. His actions struck me as very much like a case 

 of reasoning. 



When one notices something new to them in the habits 

 of one of the introduced birds, they are apt to think that it 

 is a case due to changed conditions, but such an inference 

 is by no means a safe one. So, in recording one or two 

 which have come under my own notice, or been described 

 to me, it must be borne in mind that change of habit may 

 occur in individuals without becoming at all hereditary. 

 Thus our skylarks do not always sing on the wing only, as 

 they are credited with doing. They often continue their 

 song even after coming down to the ground, or will some- 

 times alight on a post and sing. In Europe these birds 

 never alight near their nest, but always at a distance from 

 it, running along to it under cover when they have satis- 

 fied themselves that there are no watchers about. Here, 

 with almost no enemies to guard against, it is just possible 

 that their cautious habits might be relaxed to a consider- 

 able extent. 



Thrushes occasionally sing on the ground (one sometimes 

 doing so on my lawn), or even on a telegraph wire. But 

 there is a most remarkable case perhaps known to many 

 whose business takes them near the railway station 

 of one which sits on a chimney-stack on one of the 

 high buildings in the Dunedin Triangle, from whence 

 he pipes his morning song. He is often flecked with 

 soot but evidently does not mind it, resuming his perch 

 each morning. Probably his mate is in one of the 

 bushes down in the shrubbery on the other side of the 

 wide roadway. 



It is a common occurrence to notice a tvii fly from its 



