524 Proceedings. 



2. "Note on the Habits of Gerygone jlaviventris," by T. B. Gillies, M.H.R. 



On Wednesday, 7th October instant, in passing along the road from 

 Russell (Bay of Islands) to Tikiora, in company with Dr. Hector and Professor 

 Berggren, I observed, depending from the twig of a manuka bush close to the 

 roadside, and about five feet from the ground, what appeared to be a bunch of 

 moss. On examining it I found it to be a nest of the Gerygone jlaviventris, 

 containing four eggs. The nest (which, with one of the eggs, I present here- 

 with) is of the shape of a soda-water bottle, eight inches in length, by about 

 four in diameter at its widest part. The side aperture is fully one-third way 

 down from the twig on which it hung, and measured one and a-half inches 

 across, by about one inch perpendicular. The upper portion of the nest some- 

 what overhangs the aperture, forming a sort of hood. The nest is composed of 

 twigs, grass, cowhair, and greenish spider nests, with a white coral-like moss 

 scattered over the outside. The eggs are ten-sixteenths of an inch in le] 



by seven-sixteenths of an inch greatest diameter, ovoid, of a faint pinkish 



brown 



How 



the long-tailed cuckoo (Eudynamis taitensis) can, as stated by Dr. 

 Buller,* deposit its eggs in such a nest I can scarcely understand. On 22nd 



instant One of mv children rlisnnvArprl nn/1^ o 1oi>»a /T,.*™,„«™»« ™„* M Mr*r»mr* m 



taitensis 



by a hawk. It would have been impo ._. _._ 



entered the opening in the nest of the Gerygone. 



3. "On Forest Culture," by J. C. Firth. (Transactions. 

 Mr. Gillies did not agree with Mr. Firth, that for th* t 



yiamis 



the 



planting of Eucalypti and Coniferce. There 

 extensive planting of Eucalypti. It would 

 be scarcely necessary to do so in the north with the object of inducing 

 moisture, as the country was so narrow that it derived abundant moisture 

 from the sea. This was one of the questions which it would be better for 

 them to consider in a commercial than in a political aspect. It was one of 

 those things which could be better undertaken by the people, who understood 

 it, than by the Government, who did not. Tables had 

 that the country had been denuded of its forests to a j 

 been stated that thousands of acres had been destrov 



been 



their pipes, and that saw-mill proprietors wasted tremendous quantities of 



remains m this state fifteen to twenty-two 

 the perfect insect. The caterpillar is ve 



with black and ■nn-mliali "Ko« r l a ~r»i-n*i 



ikin, pale yellow groun 



w£ t X ^' TS. *^° 5* t 1 he extremi ty of the tail. I have so^ lots of the seed in the 



«S l 1 a i lt £*}* u P° n (I caU it; the scarlet cotton), so have hopes that the 



animal mav be™™ «Wrfn1 l reared upwarda of twent frQm ft ^ fc d 



and 



Zealand, 



