88 



into pale brown ; under surface of wings and tail black ; the under tail-coverts metallic green. The 

 throat is ornamented with two tufts of white filamentous feathers, which curl in upon each other in a 

 globose form. Irides dark brown; bill and feet blackish brown. Total length 12"75 inches; extent of 

 wings 18-5 ; wing from flexure 6; tail 5; culmen 1 ; tarsus T35; middle toe and claw 1"55, hind toe 

 and claw T25. 



Female. The female is somewhat smaller than the male ; but the plumage differs in no essential respect. 

 The metallic tints are not so bright, and there is more brown in the plumage of the underparts. The 

 throat is adorned with white tufts as in the other sex, but they are usually smaller. 



Young. Uniform slaty black, with a broad undefined patch or circlet of greyish white on the throat, varying 

 in extent and sometimes spreading all round the neck ; median wing-coverts white, as in the adult ; 

 irides black ; rictal membrane yellow. 



Obs. In the young bird the plumage is soft and fluffy, and entirely wants the metallic lustre. In the adult 

 state examples vary in the brilliancy of their tints, and some have a bright coppery bronze on their 

 upper parts. 



Varieties. Uniform brown-coloured varieties have been occasionally met with ; and it is not an unusual 

 thing to find specimens with a single white quill or tail-feather, or marked about the throat and face 

 with scattered white feathers. A beautiful albino was obtained some years ago in the Wanganui 

 district, and now forms part of my collection in the Colonial Museum. The general plumage is pure 

 white ; a shining black band fills the lores, crosses the forehead, and spreads down each side of the neck 

 in an irregular patch of sooty black ; lower part of back, rump, and thighs sooty black, with white 

 feathers interspersed ; wings pure white, excepting the outer secondaries and the long primary coverts, 

 which are glossy black ; bill white; tarsi and toes yellowish white. The Hon. Mr. Fox informs me 

 that at Porirua (in the Province of Wellington) he once observed a bird of this species with the entire 

 plumage of a delicate fawn-colour. 



This bird is one of our most common species, and on that account generally receives less 

 attention in its own country than its singular beauty merits. It was described and figured, as 

 early as the year 1776, in Brown's 'Illustrations of Zoology,' and has since been mentioned by 

 nearly every writer on general ornithology. In 1840 Mr. G. R. Gray made it the type of a new 

 genus, in which, up to the present time, it stands quite alone. 



The early colonists named it the " Parson-bird," in allusion to the peculiar tufts of white 

 feathers that adom its throat, and their fancied resemblance to the clerical bands. To those who 

 are familiar with the bird in its native woods, this name is certainly appropriate ; for when 

 indulging in its strain of wild notes, it displays these " bands," and gesticulates in a manner for- 

 cibly suggestive of the declamatory style of preaching, or, as Dr. Thompson graphically expresses 

 it, " sitting on the branch of a tree, as a pro tempore pulpit, he shakes his head, bending to one 

 side and then to another, as if he remarked to this one and to that one ; and once and again, with 

 pent-up vehemence, contracting his muscles and drawing himself together, his voice waxes loud, 

 in a manner to waken sleepers to their senses ! " 



Owing to its excellent powers of mimicry, and the facility of rearing it in confinement, it is 

 a favourite cage-bird, both with the natives and the colonists. Although of very delicate consti- 



