442 



PERCHING BIRDS. 



followed by a note of great sweetness like the touch on the high stop of an organ. 

 . . . One of its finest notes is a clear silvery toll followed by a pause, and then 

 another toll ; the performance lasting sometimes an hour or more. This is generally 

 heard at the close of the day, or just before the bird betakes itself to roost for the 

 night. I have, however, on one or two occasions heard a sweet tui toll long after 

 the shadows of darkness had settled down upon the forests, and all other sounds 

 were hushed. At other times it may be heard uttering a sweet warbling note, 

 followed by a sneeze, after that a pause, then a sharp cry of tu-whit, tu-whit, ooo, 

 a pause again, and then its warbling note with variations, very soft and liquid, but 



POE HONEY-EATER, OR PARSON-BIRD. 



ending abruptly in a sound like the breaking of glass." In confinement the parson- 

 bird readily reproduces the cries of other species. It feeds upon ripe berries, flies, 

 and other insects, and the honey of certain wild blossoms ; it builds its nest in the 

 fork of a bushy shrub, generally only a few feet from the ground ; it is a large 

 structure, composed chiefly of sprays or dried twigs, intermixed with coarse moss, 

 and lined with fine grasses. The eggs are generally white, finely spotted with red 

 or brown. The parson-bird builds twice in the year, the first nest being found in 

 August. The newly-hatched bird is almost entirely bare, but the feathers soon 

 appear, and the growth of the nestling is rapid. The adult male has the general 

 plumage shining metallic green, with bluish purple reflections on the shoulders,, 

 rump, and upper tail-coverts ; the middle of the back and the scapulars are bronze- 



