76 



No. 29. — Petroica macrocephala, Gml 

 (See also Yol. ii., p. 59.) 



This confident little insect-eater is so tame tliat it not unfrequently may be 

 seen on one of the croquet pegs whilst the game is being j)layed ; it is 

 exceedingly quarrelsome ; we have had almost to separate two combatants by 

 hand before the victor could be induced to leave his panting adversary. At 

 E-ockwood, two were taken by the hand whilst fighting on the lawn, carried 

 into the house, and on being released out of doors, at once recommenced 

 hostilities. 



Notes. — Aug. 21. — Cock bird feeding the hen ; an act of delicate attention 

 we sujDpose, as both birds were picking up grubs amongst the grass on the edge 

 of the gully. Aug. 24.^ — Late in the evening a cock bird took up his station 

 on the lawn mower, and commenced pursuing insects like a flycatcher, after 

 each chase returning to the same perch. 



The Tit often reminds us of the old fable of the Fox and the Crow ; had 

 the latter been as accomplished as the Tit, she need not have lost her piece 

 of cheese, for we have seen the Tit repeatedly carrying a large grub in its bill 

 whilst uttering its call-note. 



The nest sometimes occupies weeks in its construction. August 18 — saw 

 birds building, the nest was not qiiite finished on Sept. lOtL, when the 

 foundation slipping thi'ough the long leaves of the Gordyline australis, it fell 

 to the ground ; Sept. 19 — the birds were building a new nest. It was a verj?" 

 cold and late spring, which probably would be tJie reason for the tardiness of 

 their proceedings. 



Few of the native birds can be considered as very cheerful songsters, but 

 there seems to us quite a mournful cadence in the note of this bird. 



No. 33. — Petroica albifrons, Gml. 

 (See also Yol. ii., p. 60.) 



The nest and eggs repi-esented on Plate XI. are now dejDosited in the 

 Canterbury Museum. This bird, as a songster, is perhaps unequalled by 

 any native warbler, and we think scarcely surpassed by any of the woodland 

 melodists of the old country ; in its habits it is exceedingly tame ; at a station 

 on the Upper Rangitata, where it abounds, it is bold enough to enter the 

 house, but there, it must be remembered, it is in the " back country," where 

 the Englishman's " familiar evil spirit," the cat, as yet is comparatively scarce. 



No. 34. — Anthus Nov^ Zelandi^, Gml. 

 (See also YoL ii., p. 61.) 



In the last volume of Transactions, mention was made of the occurrence 

 of "White Lai'ks near the Waikerukini, in this province ; they are not 



