The Zoologist — March, 1874. 3901 



this contained two eggs; on the 7th five eggs. The nest was 

 visited, always by the same person, on the 9lh, 16th and 23rd ; on 

 the 25th there were five young ones, apparently hatched on the 

 previous day, thus allowing seventeen days for incubation. From 

 the state of the tunnel, the bird fed or was fed during incubation. 

 When a fortnight old the young look very strange ; they have a dim 

 show of the colours of the old birds, but the feathers are in their 

 sheaths over their whole bodies, so that they look prickly all over; 

 irides dark brown, almost black ; the bill black, with white tip to 

 the upper mandible. On the twenty-fourth day the young left the 

 nest, dashing out of the hole and covering quite two hundred yards 

 before seeking a perch : this occurred on the 8th of January, so 

 that most of the heavy labours of the birds, which commenced on 

 or before the 19th of October, are now over, as the young are able 

 to follow their parents to the feeding- ground. Here a very inte- 

 resting question rises. In what state was the ovary of this female 

 during the protracted labours of nest-building? What limit is 

 there to the power of retention ? as during a space of about six 

 weeks, judging from the almost finished state of the nest, she was 

 three times ready, or nearly ready, to deposit her eggs. 



We found the halcyon scarce through some part of Westland, 

 from Hokitika south to the Waio River; the note was only heard, 

 or the bird seen, twice or thrice near the rivers Waitaroa and 

 Okarita. Inland from the coast we have met with it as far back 

 as Castle Hill, near Porter's Pass ; this was at breeding time 

 (December 6th). It is during this all important season that these, 

 our silent birds, change their habit so much as to become really 

 noisy ; so many varying calls or cries are used that one accustomed 

 to their society could tell of much they might be engaged in, even 

 with his eyes shut. Their boldness in driving away intruders from 

 their young is most conspicuous. The female bird will often meet 

 a person some two or three hundred yards from her treasures, dash 

 at the intruder, return to the place where the young are perched, 

 and repeat the attack again and again. We have known it attack 

 and drive back a dog; in the autumn, when the old birds are 

 accompanied by their young, boldness seems mingled with mischief 

 or humour. We have seen a group of fine pigeons sunning them- 

 selves whilst preening their feathers on the roof of our village 

 parsonage, in an instant scattered to the winds, as one might say, 

 by the sudden dash of a mischievous kingfisher, with no other 



SECOND SERIES — VOL. IX. O 



