BuLLER. — Farther Notes on the Ornithology of New Zealand. 203 



Tlie liistory of the first arrival of this pretty liLtle bird iu the North 

 Island iu 1856 is too familiar to need repeating. It was several years 

 before it became acclimatized, but once fairly established amongst us, it 

 has continued to increase and multi]ply, and now it disputes possession of 

 our gardens and hedgerows with the introduced sparrows and finches, and 

 swarms all over the country. In the Bay of Plenty district it is said to be 

 particularly plentiful, so much so as to form an article of food to the 

 natives. They are in season in the months of March and April, and are 

 then collected in large numbers, singed on a bush fire to take the feathers 

 off, and forthwith converted into Imahua and potted in calabashes. The 

 catching is effected in a very primitive way. The birds have their favourite 

 trees upon which they are accustomed to congregate. Selecting one of 

 these, the bird-catcher clears an open space in the boughs and puts up 

 several straight horizontal perches, under which he sits with a long suj)ple 

 wand iu his hand. He emits a low twittering note in imitation of the birds' 

 and, responding to the call, they cluster on the perches, filling them from 

 end to end. The wand is switched along the perch, bringing dozens down 

 together, and a boy on the ground below picks up the stunned birds as they 

 fall. Captain Mair, when visiting Euatahuna on one occasion, had brought 

 to him, by two Urewera lads, a basket containing some five or six hundred 

 of these little birds which had been killed in the manner described. 



In front of the Eev. Mr. Spencer's house at Tarawera, in a hedge of 

 Laurustiniis, scarcely six yards from the door, upwards of twenty nests of 

 Zosterops were found at one time, each containing from three to five eggs 

 (generally the former) of a lovely blue colour. Usually, however, these 

 bh'ds do not breed in communities but scatter themselves in the nesting- 

 season. 



Myiomoika toitoi, Reich. — Pied Tit. 



This familiar little bird, the " Tomtit" of the colonists, is far less 

 plentiful than it formerly was in our fields and gardens. There seems no 

 reason to fear, however, that the species is dying out, for in the Fagus 

 forests of the interior I have found it extremely plentiful. In the woods 

 at the foot of Euapehu and neighbouring high lands, where, save the 

 occasional twitter of small birds iu the branches, all is silent as the grave, 

 this pretty little creature is always to be met with. It flits noiselessly from 

 one tree to another, then descends to the ground, and in a few instants 

 reappears on its perch, flirting its tail upwards, and emitting at intervals a 

 soft, trilling note of exquisite sweetness. Destitute of animal life as these 

 sub-alpine woods undoubtedly are, they are not without their attractions. 

 Owing to their high elevation vapour-clouds are continually hanging over 

 them, causing a perpetual moisture. In cons8cj[uenue of this the trees on 



