266 



NA TURE 



[July 17, 1 1 



noticed that the wings are kept constantly in rapid motion ; there 

 is no sailing or soaring, gliding through the air on still expanded 

 pinions, but the bird is sustained by determined work. Here in 

 the South Island they are to be seen from the end of the first 

 week in October (further to the north earlier) till March, or even 

 April ; the remainder of the year they are not seen in this country. 

 Every part of the islands is known to the Maories ; there is no 

 district where they could winter without the fact becoming 

 known. The whistler, or shining cuckoo (Chrysococcyx) has 

 been observed in the month of October at Te Wakaru. Chatham 

 Isles, on the beach and in trees exhausted, wet as though from 

 spray ; looking at the period of its arrival, and remembering that 

 Te Wakaru is the north-east corner of the large island, it points 

 to the probability that some birds arrive there direct from the 

 warm and distant north, and not from New Zealand, from which 

 the Chatham Island group lies easterly from Cook's Straits about 

 500 miles. From my own observation I am inclined to believe 

 that with this species the first emigration sets in from the 

 west coast of the South Maud of New Zealand about the end of 

 December, as I have observed adult birds in numbers on the 

 sand dunes close to the sea, probably preparing for departure. 

 They make use of the wannest domed nest of our native insect- 

 eating birds, the very rare exceptions afford but two or at most 

 three exceptions in thirty years' observation ; in one of these 

 eases an egg found in a nest of the blight-bird (Zostcrops) 

 approximated in colour those of the dupe ; because it was 

 dropped in an open nest? A good example of approximate 

 coloration came under notice in the case of a wounded bittern 

 which was secured and placed under a coop on a piece of grass ; 

 she laid an egg of a pale green colour ; under ordinary conditions 

 a bull egg would have very well matched the Hags of dead sanpo 

 (Typha) and faded water grasses, of which its nest is composed. 

 The kingfisher (Halcyon) gives a good instance of cleanliness, 

 most necessary in a close nest, containing from five to seven 

 young birds, which remain at home until they can fly well ; the 

 entrance of the tunnel to the nest chamber is an upward slope, 

 whilst the eggs are saved from rolling out by a ridge on the edge 

 of the nesting place. In another species the flycatchers (Rhipi- 

 liura) cleanliness is attended to thus: the young back themselves 

 to the edge of the nest to void excrement, which is taken away 

 by the old birds. In the slight nest of the wood-pigeon (Carpo- 

 phagus) cleanliness is provided for by the open work of the 

 structure, so that the dried excreta of the young pass through 

 the spaces of the concave platform. The tui (Prosthemadera) 

 enjoy, the faculty possessed by the keas, gulls, terns, and many 

 other species, of quickly making known events of interest, as'. 

 for instance, in a gorge of one of the great rivers, some cherrj 

 trees rewarded the care of a settler with a fine crop of fruit ; a 

 wandering tui found this out. immediately the fruit was attacked 

 by numbers of these beautiful birds, and the crop cleared oil". 

 The tuis had to travel some miles from a wood to the cherry- 

 trees. Another instance of the possession of this quality could 

 be witnessed here at the present moment (April 23) ; from 

 the midst of the massive armed leaves of a variegated 

 aloe has arisen a stately and erect column of blossom 

 reaching upwards to a height of twenty-four feet ; its bracts, 

 between thirty and forty in number, laden with rich golden- 

 coloured flowers spread out in formal array. A bell-bird 

 (Arthomis) first discovered the richness of the nectaries of this 

 foreign plant. Soon bell-birds and tuis assembled there, a most 

 pleasing sight ; their ever-varying motions and postures could be 

 distinctly seen as they flitted about, darted between or hung 

 suspended from the blossoms whilst probing for the honeyed 

 sweets. It has become a floral play-place, a stage enlivened 

 throughout the day with songs and aerial movements ; even when 

 the sun has retired behind the western hills, when bees have 

 winged away to distant hives, a bell-bird or two will yet linger, 

 as d to the last minute they would extract some luscious drops. 



Since its arrival here in 1856 the blight-bird (Zostcrops) has 

 shown some notable changes in habit that are in accord with 

 the different conditions under which it now lives in this country : 

 for some years after its arrival it built a suspended, somewhat 

 hammock-shaped nest, in which it laid three eggs ; finding from 

 experience that its nest was unmolested by snakes or other egg- 

 robbers, it saved itself much pains and labour by commencing 

 to fix its home in a spray. It, like the goldfinch (F. carduelu), 

 freely availed itself of the sheep paddocks, ami collected wool 

 as an excellent fabric for nests very readily obtainable ; I have 

 seen nests of this species almost entirely constructed of it. One 

 of its familiar names was conferred because it helped to clear 



fruit-trees of blight and other insect pests ; it soon found out the 

 excellent food that a variety of fruits afforded ; when trees were 

 netted to secure them from its attacks, it learnt to find out where 

 the meshes of the nets were stretched to their full extent, and 

 there made its ingress and egress to the fruit beneath. The robin 

 (/'. albifrons) visits conservatories for the sake of insects; 

 we have known them make daily tours round a glass-house, 

 waiting till flower-pots have been removed, . when they have 

 eagerly picked up the lurking insects that hid beneath, thus 

 easily earning a hearty meal. The lark or pipit (Anthus, N.Z.) 

 for a similar reason will leave uncultivated tussock land to follow 

 the trench made by the gardener's spade, and thus get an 

 abundant supply of the larva; of the brown chaffer-beetle. I wish 

 to say I do not think this a general habit of the pipit, but I have 

 seen several of the species thus well employed. 



The yellow-breasted robin (P. macrocephala) and the wren 

 (Acanlhisilta) will at times use man's buildings for their homes. 

 Nesting material offered to this robin and to the flycatcher have 

 been readily accepted ; the latter species made use of some red 

 cotton wool thus put in its way, but worked it up so that it was 

 not seen from the outside. In some cases I have known the 

 last-named neat architect to add a rim to the nest when the 

 young required more room. The chaffinch (F. ccelel/s 1 ) here 

 follows the traditions of its native land, tricks out the exterior of 

 its beautiful nest with lichens, and in many cases supplements this 

 material with fragments of newspaper, for lichen is scarce here ; 

 singularly enough this hereditary habit outweighs its sense of 

 concealment, as it places its nest thus adorned on trees without 

 lichen on their bark. 



The sparrow (F. domestica) is remarkable for the ease and 

 readiness with which it modifies its nesting habits to suit circum- 

 stances ; in the very heavily topped ti palms (Cordyline), where 

 the divergence of the branches is hidden by a massive thatch of 

 long ensifonn leaves, sometimes a common roof shelters many 

 compartments ; the gregarious instincts of the species are thus 

 carried out at breeding-time ; from one of these communities we 

 have taken thirty-one eggs and fourteen young birds at once. 

 On the shelterless "plains " it has been known to modify its old 

 habits by building on the ground, or in heavy road cuttings its 

 nest may be seen in a crevice of the bank, or it builds in some 

 fissure in the cliffs over the sea, just below man's reach ; it has 

 taken possession of intricate passages in a heap of coils of 

 fencing-wire ; in this last-named instance poultry feathers for 

 lining had to be brought from a mile distance ; but then the 

 situation promised security. 



The weka (Ocydrotnus), as curious as a magpie, knows the 

 value of a fruit-garden, and that a poultry-yard furnishes eggs. I 

 have seen it pecking at the skin of a dead lamb with heavy 

 blows, and the insects being driven out, it has tugged away at 

 the decaying skin till it has been able to pick up the insects that 

 lay underneath. The dotterel (C. Mcinctus), red-bill (Hama- 

 topus), paradise duck (Casarca), all simulate lameness or distress 

 to lead wayfarers from their young and afford them opportunity 

 lor escape or concealment. 



The Australian magpie (Gymnorhina) has given us some 

 noteworthy instances of its intelligence and resource under diffi- 

 culties : a pair bred here for some years ; one season the young 

 were taken, the wings cut very close. Some impatient creature 

 who could not endure constant and sudden attacks shot the 

 male bird ; the young were given away except one poor one, 

 which turned out to be a male. In the following season the old 

 hen was seen building very high, as usual, in a blue gum (Euca- 

 lyptus) ; there she was observed feeding young ; at length a 

 young one flew from the nest, and, when sufficiently strong on 

 the wing, together with the old hen left the district. Now the 

 poor male with the wings cut was never able to rise from the 

 ground further than by jumping ; he had never flown at all, as 

 the stumps of the quills remained in the wings. This was the 

 only male to which the hen could have had access. Whilst the 

 hen was intent on new family cares, the crippled male died. 

 Another pair on the plains, where sticks were scarce, availed 

 themselves of a supply of binding-wire from a patent reaper and 

 binder ; the wire cut in lengths furnished an ample supply of 

 lasting material for the nest. 



The big gull (Larus domiiikanus) instantly finds out a dead 

 beast, and makes the fact known ; it attacks sickly lambs or 

 sheep that are cast by pecking out the eyes, thus securing its 

 prey by rendering it helpless. I have seen it ascend with a shell- 



■ See Mittheilungen des Ornithologischcn Vereims in Willi, No. 3, 

 Marz 1884, p. 35. 



