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On the nesting-habits of this bird, Mr. Potts furnishes the following interesting notes : — 



" The Black Fantail breeds under conditions so very similar to those of the preceding species, 

 that one description will serve for both. To my view, the most remarkable feature in the 

 breeding-habits of our Flycatchers is the situation usually selected for rearing their young. 

 Security does not appear to be the first consideration; security by concealment seems the 

 leading feature which guides most arboreal birds in choosing the site of their home, and it is one 

 in which the most admirable displays of instinct may be frequently observed. The Flycatchers 

 rather appear to be led by the same consideration which actuates many sea-birds in selecting the 

 position of their breeding-place — proximity to the food supply. Stroll carefully along the rocky 

 bed of a creek which rambles through some bushy gully, and you may perchance see the beauti- 

 ful nest perched on some slender bough, in so delicate a manner that it appears scarcely so much 

 to be fixed as to rest balanced there. There is no concealment amongst tangled creepers, 

 guarded with their sharp recurved prickles; it is not buried amidst a mass of waving leaves, nor 

 is it hidden away in the dim twilight of some hollow tree ; but there, a few feet above the water, 

 it sways gently with the subdued breeze that reaches the quiet ravine through the leafy canopy 

 that is spread around Over the shady creek our Flycatcher is in the midst of sand- 

 flies, and the position chosen for its nest affords comparatively as good a vantage ground for 

 supplying the wants of its young as the nesting-place on the craggy mountain-side bestows on the 

 dashing Quail-Hawk." 



Mr. Potts has also called attention to the interesting fact of the two species occasionally 

 interbreeding. There is a union nest of this sort in the Canterbury Museum, containing three 

 eggs. It was taken, in October 1870, by Mr. Potts himself, who informs me that the female was 

 a dark bird and the male a pied one. The eggs are decidedly like those of Bh. fuliginosa, having 

 a very distinct zone of purplish-brown spots near the thick end. In another case of intercrossing 

 which came under his notice the relative position of the sexes was reversed, the female being 

 Bh. flabellifera : the eggs proved to be fertile, and the young assumed the plumage of the 

 female parent. 



The eggs of this species are of similar size and shape to those of the Pied Fantail, but 1 

 have remarked that they usually have a darker zone of purple and brown spots. 



