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Mr. Gilbert Mair discovered a nest under the thatched eaves of a Maori hut ; and Mr. E. 

 Pharazyn sent me an egg taken from another nest found concealed among the dry roots of a 

 fallen tree. 



The Rifleman has been found breeding as early in the year as the month of August ; and in 

 a specimen which I killed in the Ruahine ranges on the 23rd of December, the ovary contained 

 an undeveloped egg of the size of buck-shot, while the bareness of the underparts bore indication 

 that the bird had already been sitting. From these facts we may, I think, reasonably infer that 

 this species produces two broods in the season. The companion male bird on this occasion also 

 had the abdomen bare, thus affording presumptive evidence that the sexes share the labour of 

 incubation. The eggs vary in number from three to five ; they are very fragile, almost spherical, 

 and perfectly white. 



