

127 



^ 



^i&V^ 



1 



11 



or 



^ anJ i^^'-x 



Of 



f,/T *ff*T 



only found north of Cook's Strait. It appears, however, to enjoy a wider geographical range ; for 

 I obtained specimens at the Chatham Islands, and the Antarctic Expedition brought some from 



Auckland Island. 



(M. 



appears to be less recluse in its manner of nidification. 



Mr. Potts, who has frequently found the nest, writes as follows :— " This familiar little bird 

 is one of the most elaborate nest-builders amongst the denizens of the bush, or rather of its out- 

 skirts. The nest varies much in shape, according to position : frequently we have found it m 

 the holes of trees; and a favourite site is immediately under the head of the ti tree [Cordyhne 

 australis). Two nests which we presented to the Canterbury Museum were of remarkable 

 shape : one, a firm compact structure, placed in the forked head of a ti tree, resembled a very neat 

 moss basket with a handle across the top ; the second, also from a ti tree, owing, perhaps, to the 

 foundation slipping between the leaves, was built up till it reached the great length of sixteen 



inches. We 



built between the brace and shingles in the roof of an empty cottage 



Mr 



In a letter to myself, 



." No. 1 



was built chiefly of sprays of climbing plants, strengthened with grass-bents and a few pieces of 

 split ti-palm leaf, lined with moss, as usual. The whole fabric appeared much rougher and more 

 loosely put together than is usually the case with the nest of this bird.^ It jas^^placed m a 

 ti palm, and contained two well-fledged young birds and three bad eggs, 

 composed almost entirely of moss, with a few slender strips of bark fixed to the outside, and 



No. 2 : This nest was 



irnamented 



among the rocks in dense bush, and contained four eggs." 



The eggs, which are generally three in number, are ovoido-conical, measuring "75 inch m 

 length by -6 in breadth ; they are white, with a broad freckled zone of purplish brown, and with 

 the whole surface, dusted or minutely freckled with paler brown ; sometimes without the zone, 

 and beautifully speckled all over with various shades of brown. 



* Trans. New-Zealand Inst. 1869, vol. ii. p. 59. 



.' 



-- ^? « 



.- V 



31 



dmthpal 



1.-, 

 t - 



t 



nTl 



e un 



d:- 



! 



if 



ed filb b«"™ 



U** 



i^kptjMi 



M 



.. Willi t"' '-^ 



of the -^ 



t 



t 



t/iiU«« 



-peci 



ies, 



n 



iiicb '^ 



