Eggs of some New Zealand Birds. 155 



togedicr, and in some instances forming a zone at the larger 

 end. 



The " Mocker," or " Bell-bird " as it is also sometimes called, 

 is a pretty and lively species. It seems to have a great variety 

 of notes, but yet no continued song. It imitates the Tui [Pros- 

 themadera novce-zeelandice) and many other birds remarkably 

 well. It has a great liking for honey from the flower of the 

 flax-plant {Phormium tenax). Many specimens which I shot at 

 Auckland had the whole of the forehead covered with the bright 

 yellow pollen of these flowers. I found it also in great numbers 

 luxuriating among the bright red clusters of the tall Metrosi- 

 deros trees [M. hyp ericif olid) . 



The " Mocker " is frequently the foster-parent of the Long- 

 tailed Cuckoo (EuDYNAMis TAiTENSis, G. R. Gray, he. cit. 

 p. 231). Of this latter bird, the eggs which Mr. Huntley sends 

 — one from the nest of Anthornis melanura, and another from 

 that of the Fan-tail Fly-catcher {Rhipidura flabellifera) — are of a 

 pale yellowish salmon-colour, freckled indistinctly with marks of 

 a deeper hue : they are 10 lines long by 7^ lines broad. 



Rhipidura flabellifera (G. R. Gray, loc. cit. p. 225). 



Like its representative {R. albiscapa) in New South Wales, 

 this species is equally lovely and interesting ; but so much has 

 already been said upon the subject, that were I to enumerate all 

 its varied and pleasing movements, which are such as cannot fail 

 to strike the most commonplace observer, I should perhaps, 

 after all, be only repeating what has before been described by 

 others. Still, a few remarks on its niditication may not be amiss. 

 I found the New Zealand bird commonly on all three islands at 

 every port I visited ; and several times succeeded in finding its 

 nest — a neat, open, round structure, composed of grass, mosses, 

 and very often small fragments of decayed wood, the whole 

 firmly interwoven and covered with cobwebs. It is generally 

 built on some horizontal forked twig, or upon the lower frond of 

 a tree-fern. The height of the nest is from 2^ to 3 inches, its 

 diameter \\ inch to 2 inches, and depth 1 inch. It is lined 

 either with fine grass, or the scales from the young fronds of the 

 tree-fern. The bird breeds during October, November, and 



