186 Transactions.— Zoology. 
Canterbury Museum contains two nests of this bird, both of which were 
obtained at Milford Sound. 
One is a massive nest, with a depth of eight inches, composed of rough 
materials ; but with a carefully finished cup. 
The foundation consists of broken twigs, some of them a quarter of an 
inch in diameter, and placed together at all angles, so as to form a compact 
support ; over di a layer of coarse moss and fern-hair, to the thickness of 
two inches or more; then a capacious well-rounded cup, lined with dry 
peats, intermixed with fern-hair. The general form of the nest is rounded, 
but at one end of it the twig foundation is raised and produced backwards, 
being intended, as it seems to me, to serve as an artificial support for the 
bird’s tail during incubation. In connection with this, I may remark that, 
in a nest of the Lyre Bird (Menura superba) lately added to the Australian 
collection in the Canterbury Museum, I observed the same form of construc- 
tion, in a more pronounced degree. 
The other is a nest of similar construction, composed of numerous broken 
twigs, intermixed with dry moss, and the “ tail-bearer”’ is as conspicuous 
as in the other, extending some eight inches beyond the nest proper, which 
is about a foot in diameter. The cup-shaped depression is shallower than 
in the other, but has the same thick lining of dry grass. Mr. Enys in- 
formed me that this nest was discovered by himself and Mr. Potts, placed 
among the branches of a totara, overhanging a stream of water, in the 
month of January, and that it contained young birds. The other nest, also, 
as he assures me, was found in the vicinity of water. : 
There are two eggs of this species, collected by Mr. Dogherty, and now 
_ belonging to the Museum collection. They are of a regular ovoido-conical 
form, one of them being slightly narrower than the other, measuring, 
respectively, 1.60 by 1:15, and 1.65 by 1.10-inches. They are of a dark 
purplish-grey, irregularly spotted and blotched with dull sepia-brown. 
These spots and markings are thicker and more prominent at the larger end, 
and are of various shades, the lighter ones fading almost to purple, and 
presenting a washed out appearance. : 
At the time of the publication of my work, the only information I could 
give on the breeding habits of the blue-wattled crow (a near ally of the 
present species) was contained in the following passage :—‘* A young settler, 
who, in addition to being a son of the soil, was well-skilled in all bush-craft, 
assured me that he once met with a Kokako’s nest fixed in a mass of kareao 
vines (Fhipogonum scandens), and he described it as being of very large 
size, and composed of moss and dry twigs.” 
CaRPOHAGA NOVH-ZEALANDLE. 
A nest of the New Zealand Pigeon in the Canterbury Museum (received 
