My New Zealand Garden 71 



ful, or rich ; and to these merits the Tui's note is 

 slightly entitled. Perhaps some uncertain and 

 erratic notes of the flute might help to describe 

 his song, but to give him his due, some people 

 admire his liquid voice. He is very good at 

 mimicry, which makes him a favourite cage-bird, 

 especially as he endures prison-bars well. One 

 or two frequent our garden in early spring, and 

 treat us to some of their indescribable sounds. 



The little ' Silver Eye ' or ' Blight Bird,' so called 

 from its very useful propensity of eating various 

 blights, has a silvery circle round its eyes, com- 

 posed of tiny white feathers which are sweetly 

 becoming. They are always extremely busy, 

 rapidly examining every atom of shrub and tree, 

 and filling their tiny crops with every kind of 

 blight. They look under twigs in a most intelli- 

 gent manner, seeming to say, ' Nothing shall escape 

 us.' I was delighted to see quite forty or fifty at 

 work one morning, keeping very much together 

 round a white Oleander, which looked quite alive 

 with so many small hunters on it ; and I thought 

 what a hearty welcome they must receive from 

 the trees. They are gray in colour, with some 

 rich tints, especially the male. 



The Australian, or ' Shining Cuckoo,' is a lovely 

 little visitor, and comes pretty regularly every 

 summer. I often wonder what he gains by his 

 trip, for if he flies those thousand miles merely 



