AND OTHER BIRDS 187 



CHAPTER XXI. 

 THE YELLOW-BREASTED TIT. 



^EITHER in plumage nor in habits 

 does the Yellow-breasted Tit of 

 the South, differ greatly from the 

 Pied Tit of the North Island. In 

 the former breed, a yellow waist- 

 coat is worn, in the latter a white; 

 but the depth of the colouring of the South 

 Island bird varies very considerably. Sometimes 

 a matured male may be seen which might almost 

 be mistaken for a northern bird, so very faint is 

 the yellow hue; and sometimes, though rarely, 

 the breast, the spot over the beak, and the 

 angular patch on the primaries, are of a very 

 pale crimson or carmine wash. 



In habit, the species differ as slightly as in 

 plumage. They do, however, differ. The Yellow- 

 breast hen is very much more bold than her 

 recluse sister of the North, whom I have never 

 yet heard sing. I have, however, on two 

 occasions heard the Southern female use her 

 voice, and I think that, even after making 

 allowances for the dissimilar forests of the 

 North and South, the typical nesting places also 

 vary. Sites common to each species, are side 

 limbs broken by gales or smashed by falling 

 timber, and where, sheltered from rain, the inner 

 surfaces of the scars have mouldered into wood 



