BIRDS OF PARADISE. 329 



ivory bills, uttering at the same time a low affectionate twitter . . . But what 

 interested me most of all was the manner in which the birds assisted each other in 

 their search for food, because it appeared to explain the use, in the economy of 

 nature, of the differently- formed bills in the two sexes. To divert the birds, I 

 introduced a log of decayed wood infested with the hu-hu grub. They at once 

 attacked it, carefully probing the softer parts with their bills, and then vigorously 

 assailing them, scooping out the decayed wood till the larva or pupa was visible, 

 when it was carefully drawn from its cell, treated in the way above described, and 

 then swallowed. The very different development of the mandibles in the two 

 sexes enabled them to perform separate offices. The male always attacked the 

 more decayed portions of the wood, chiselling out his prey after the manner of 

 some woodpeckers, while the female probed with her long pliant bill the other cells, 

 where the hardness of the surrounding parts resisted the chisel of her mate. 

 vSometimes I observed the male remove the decayed portion without being able to 

 reach the grub, when the female would at once come to his aid and accomplished 

 with her long slender bill what he had failed to do. I noticed, however, that the 

 female always appropriated to her own use the morsels thus obtained." Buller 

 subsequently studied the habits of the huia in the bush. The huia never leaves 

 the shade of the forest ; and moves along the ground, or from tree to tree, with 

 remarkable celerity, by a series of bounds or jumps. In its flight it never rises like 

 other birds above the tree-tops, except in the depths of the woods, when it happens 

 to fly from one high tree to another. The old birds as a rule respond to the call- 

 note in a low tremulous whistle or whimper, and almost immediately afterwards 

 answer the summons in person, coming down noiselessly, and almost with the 

 rapidity of an arrow." 



The huia builds its nest in hollow trees, lining it with coarse grasses and bits 

 of coarse herbaceous plants, twined into a basin-like form. A specimen of the egg 

 brought to Buller was of a very delicate stone-grey, inclining to greyish white, 

 without any markings except at the larger end where there are some scattered 

 rounded spots of dark purple - grey and brown ; but another specimen is 

 described as pure white, without any trace of markings. The whole of the 

 plumage is black, with a green metallic gloss, the tail being banded with white. 

 Both sexes are adorned with large rounded wattles, which are of a rich orange 

 colour in the living bird. The bill is ivory-white, darkening into blackish grey 

 at the base. The young differ from the adults in having the entire plumage 

 of a duller black, and the terminal bar washed with rufous. It may be added that 

 in the superficial deposits of the North Island remains of the huia have been found 

 in association with those of the extinct moas. 



* BIRDS OF PARADISE. 

 Family PARADISEID^. 



In spite of their gorgeous plumage, which seems to run riot in the way of 

 exuberance and eccentricity, the birds of paradise, according to the system we are 



* NOTE. See p. 374. 



