Potts. — Neio Zealand Birds. 175 



"of the cottage, betv/een the door and a window ; this was deserted for 

 probably the same reason as caused them to leave the first nest. November 

 14th, saw the same pair at work on a fresh site on the south wall of the same 

 cottage, darting upwards from a convenient rail five and six times in a 

 minute, till the hard plain surface of the wall was broken by the dig of the 

 bill. This was the difficult commencement of their toil ; here was no foothold, 

 the beak served as a pick, and a separate dart upwards had to be made each 

 time this pick was applied. Alas ! their labour was again lost, three more 

 holes were begun and partly completed in that wall j then this indefatigable 

 pair went over to the opposite end of the cottage, and, in the chimney-wall 

 they had first attacked, commenced another nesting place; this was the seventh 

 attempt on November 26th. On December 4th this contained two eggs, on 

 the 7th five eggs. The nest was visited, always by the same person, on the 

 the 9th, 1 6th, and 23rd ; on the 25th there were five young ones, apparently 

 hatched on the previous day, thus allowing seventeen days for incubation. 

 From the state of the tunnel the bird fed or was fed during incubation. 



When a fortnight old the young look very strange, they have a dim show 

 of the colours of the old birds, but the feathers are in their sheaths over their 

 whole bodies, so that they look prickly all over ; irides dark brown, almost 

 black, the bill black with white tip to the upper mandible. On the twenty- 

 fourth day the young left the nest, dashing out of the hole and covering quite 

 200 yards before seeking a perch. This occurred on January 8th so that 

 most of the heavy labours of the birds, which commenced on or before the 

 19th of October, are now over, as the young are able to follow their parents 

 to the feeding ground. 



Here a ' very interesting question rises. In what state was the ovary of 

 this hen bird during the protracted labours of nest building % What limit is 

 there to the power of retention? as during a space of about six weeks, judging 

 from the almost finished state of the nest, she was three times ready, or nearly 

 ready, to deposit her eggs. 



We found the halcyon scarce through some part of Westland, from 

 Hokitika south to the Waio River ; the note was only heard, or the bird seen, 

 twice or thrice near the rivers Waitaroa and Okarito. Inland from the coast 

 we have met with it as far back as Castle Hill,, near Porter's Pass ; this was 

 at breeding time (December 6th). It is during this all important season that 

 these, our silent birds, change their habit so much as to become really noisy ; 

 so many varying calls or cries are used that one accustomed to their society 

 could tell of much they might be engaged in, even with his eyes shut. Their 

 boldness in driving away intruders from their young is most conspicuous. 

 The hen bird will often meet a person some two or three hundred yards from 

 her treasures, dash at the intruder, return to the place where the young are 



