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and November, when the kowhai (SopJiora grandifiora) has cast its leaves and is covered with a 

 beautiful mantle of yellow flowers, its branches are alive wdth Tuis; and in December and 

 January, when the PJiormimn tenax is in full bloom, they leave the forest and repair to the flax- 

 fields to feast on the korari honey. At these times large numbers are caught in snares or speared 

 by the natives, who thus supply themselves with a delicious article of food. At certain seasons 

 of the year, when its favourite berries have fully ripened, the Tui becomes exceedingly fat ; so 

 much so as very much to embarrass the operations of the taxidermist, who finds it almost impos- 

 sible to keep the feathers free from the oily matter that exudes under the operator's knife. But 

 I am unable to endorse the statement made by the reverend author of ' New Zealand and its 

 Inhabitants ' (probably on the authority of a native), that on these occasions the Tui relieves 



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itself of its exuberant fat by pecking its breast and allowing it to escape ! 



It is easily approached and shot ; but I have often remarked its extreme tenacity of life, 

 reminding one of Mr. Gosse's charming account of Conunis flaviventer^ in his ' Birds of Jamaica.' 

 Sometimes, when mortally wounded, the grasp of the feet by which the bird was clinging to the 

 twigs or vines becomes convulsively tightened, and the falling body is seen suspended, head 

 downward, for several minutes, the wings now and then giving an ineffectual flutter, till at last one 

 foot relaxes its hold and then the other, and the quivering body falls heavily to the ground. 



The nest of this species is usually placed in the fork of a bushy shrub, only a few feet from 

 the ground; but I have also found it at a considerable elevation, hidden among the leafy top of a 

 forest tree. It is a rather large structure, composed chiefly of sprays or dry twigs, intermixed 

 with coarse green moss, the cavity being lined with flbrous grasses, very carefully bent and adjusted. 

 Sometimes the interior is composed of the black hair-like substance from the young shoots of the 

 tree-fern, the cavity being sparingly lined with dry bents. The eggs are generally from three to 

 four in number and present some variety both in form and colour : there are some good examples 



The eggs (numbering three) in one of the nests are of a pyriform 

 character, being blunt and rounded at the thick end and tapering upwards to a point, measuring 

 1*3 inch in length by -75 in their widest part; they are white, with a faint rosy blush, stained and 

 mottled at the larger end and lightly freckled or dusted all over with pale reddish brown. Those 

 contained in another nest (also numbering three) are ovato-conical, measuring 1'05 in length by 

 •75; these are of a delicate rosy tint, obscurely freckled, darker and speckled more or less with 

 brown at the thick end. A third nest contains two almost pure white eggs, intermediate in form 

 between those described above, stained and freckled, at the larger end only, with brick-red. 

 There is likewise an interesting series of these eggs in the Canterbury Museum, varying in cha- 

 racter from the true ovato-pyriform to a fusiform outline, something like a skittle-head. The 

 former measure 1'5 in length by '9 in width, and are of a pinky-white colour, freckled and 

 spotted at the larger end with reddish brown, and with marbled markings of the same colour at 

 the smaller end: the other extreme form measures 1*7 in length by -8 in its widest part, and 

 the whole surface is white with scattered specks of rust-red at the thick end, each surrounded by 

 a light stain or halo, as if the colour had run ; there are also two or three of these specks with 

 the same stained circumference in the anterior or produced portion of the egg. Dr. Hector 

 informs me that Tui's eggs in his possession vary from a decidedly elliptical shape to a narrow 

 oval one, and that both forms are " spotted with round dabs of red." 



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