58 



virgata, indicated marshy ground ; now it is rapidly disappearing, as the 

 swamps are becoming drained. As its very feeble power of night is unable to 

 save it from the bush fires, we anticipate it must become extinct, on " the 

 plains," at no very distant date. Prom its call, it is in some places named the 

 Utick. The nest, inclining somewhat to an oval shape, and measuring about three 

 inches across, is made of grass leaves, so frail in its construction, that the walls 

 may be seen through, consequently it is a difficult specimen to obtain in a 

 perfect state (See Plate 5, Fig. 4) ; a few feathers, usually those of the 

 Pukeko, are added to the grass leaves, and sometimes a small tuft or tv/o of 

 wool. The situation is, most frequently, in a tussock, a few inches above the 

 level of the ground. The eggs, three or four in number, are white, speckled with 

 a beautiful tint of reddish-purple, which at once readily distinguishes them from 

 those of any other bird ; ovoiconical in form, they measure, through the axis, 

 10 lines, with a diameter of 7| lines. 



Notes. — Nov. 4 — ISTest containing three young birds, in a tussock, at the 

 edge of a wide creek. 



Nov. 7 — -Nest with four eggs, in a swamp by the Hororata stream, in the 

 Malvern Hills. 



No. 25. — Oerygone assimilis, Buller. 

 Piripiri. 

 Warbler, Teetotum. 



This cheerful little warbler is a pensile nest-builder, and one of the earliest 

 breeders ; its neat, domed nest may be often found, in August, suspended in 

 some bushy Manuka or Olearia. The nest may be called somewhat pear-shaped, 

 with a small entrance near the middle, above which is often affixed a kind of 

 porch (See Plate 6, Fig. 3), it is suspended by its top, and kept steady from 

 swaying in the breeze, by slight fastenings to a spray or two, acting as guys. 

 Moss enters largely into its construction, very frequently wool ; we have 

 examined one, the greater part of which was composed of wool ; cobwebs are 

 freely made use of, to felt and bind the materials into a compact mass. We 

 have a nest before us, taken from the foi'k of a Willow tree, at least twenty- 

 five feet from the ground ; it is rather larger than usual, and almost wholly 

 constructed of poultry feathers and cobwebs, and is felted into a compact, firm 

 structure, the porch and its foundation, beneath the entrance, is strengthened 

 and kept in shape by fine roots carefully intei'woven with green cobwebs ; here 

 and there may be found pieces of thread, string, coloured worsted, picked up 

 from the garden or yard ; the interior is thickly lined with feathers (See Plate 

 6, Fig. 2), this nest is evidently composed of materials, which would not have 

 been made use of so freely, but for its firm and sheltered position in the fork of 

 the willow, the most exposed part only being strengthened with stiff material. 



Sometimes, yet rarely, the nest is built in a less elaborate manner, without 

 either dome or porch, the form of the structure being adapted to the 

 peculiarities of the situation chosen ; the principle of suspension is likewise 

 occasionally abandoned. Five or six eggs are usually found to a nest, they 

 are white, with red spots, ovoiconical in shape, 8 lines in length, with a 

 breadth of 6 lines. No bird suffers so frequently from the imposition of the 

 golden-winged Cuckoo, as the grey Warbler. We have several times observed 

 a pair of these industrious little insect-eaters, feeding a young parasite larger 

 than themselves. The Cuckoo only arrives in October, when the wai-mth of 

 Spring is well established ; and one reason for the selection of the Warbler's 

 home, in addition to its pencile character, appears to us to be, because from its 

 shape and structure it is the warmest nest, to be found, for rearing so tender a 

 bird as the Chrysococcyx, our gay visitor, during the spring and summer 

 months. 



