150 



very small : No. 2 presents a few black touches on the sides of the head and neck : No. 3 has some new 

 black feathers between the crura of the lower mandible, also on the sides of the head and along the edges 

 of the wings ; the upper wing-coverts bright ferruginous ; the half-grown new secondaries and tail- 

 feathers perfectly black, the back and rump presenting indications of change : No. 4 is in the plumage 

 of the adult male as described above. Mr. Buchanan has observed the so-called C. cinereus in Otago 

 in the summer, and Captain Hutton saw four birds in this plumage near Collingwood in the month of 

 August ; while, in the North Island, I have obtained fully coloured examples of C. carunculatus all the 

 year round. It is sufficiently obvious, therefore, that the former cannot be a seasonal state of plumage. 



Tins bird derives its popular name from a peculiarity in the distribution of its two strongly con- 

 trasted colours, black and ferruginous, the latter of which covers the back, forms a sharply defined 

 margin across the shoulders, and sweeps over the wings in a manner suggestive of saddle-flaps. 

 The colours, in the male bird especially, are of so decided a kind as to attract special attention,, 

 to say nothing of the loud notes and eccentric habits of this remarkable bird. The bill is strong, 

 sharply cut, and wedge-shaped, being well adapted for digging into decaying vegetable matter in 

 search of larvae, grubs, and insects, on which this species largely subsists. From the angle of the 

 mouth on each side there hangs a fleshy wattle, or caruncle, shaped like a cucumber-seed, and of a 

 changeable bright yellow colour. The wings are short and feeble, and the flight of the bird, 

 though rapid, is very laboured, and always confined to a short distance. 



The range of this species extends as far north as the Lower Waikato, beyond which district 

 it is only rarely met with. It is numerous in the wooded ranges between Waikato Heads and 

 Raglan, and is occasionally found in the neighbourhood of the Hunua coal-fields ; but I have 

 never heard of its occurrence in the Tauranga district, on the east coast, although I have an 

 excellent ornithological correspondent there. In the summer of 1852 I obtained a pair at the 

 Kaipara ; but the bird was decidedly a rara avis, few of the natives in that part of the country 

 being familiar with it. Mr. Gilbert Mair met with it once at Kaitaia, near the North Cape, and 

 he afterwards saw a pair in the Maungatapere bush, near Whangarei. These are the only 

 instances I can give of its occurrence on the mamland north of Auckland ; but, strange to say, it 

 is very plentiful on the Barrier Islands, in the Gulf of Hauraki. Mr. Layard was the first to 

 notice its existence there, having shot a specimen on the Little Barrier, which he visited, in com- 

 pany with Sir George Grey, in 1863. He speaks of it (Ibis, 1863, p. 244) as " an apparently very 

 rare bird;" but Captain Hutton, who visited these islands in December 1867, found it on both 

 the Great and Little Barrier, and "very common" on the latter*. 



It is comparatively abundant in the wooded hills in the vicinity of Wellington and in those 

 skirting the Tararua and Ruahine ranges ; and it occurs also, and more plentifully, in many parts 

 of the South Island. 



Dr. Hector has informed me of a peculiarity in the habits of this species, as observed by him 

 in Otago. It is accustomed to follow the flocks of Orthonyx ochroceplmla through the bush ; but 

 for what purpose it is difficult to imagine. Wherever he saw a flock of Yellow-heads there was 

 invariably one of these Saddle-backs in attendance, mingling freely with them and, as it were, 

 exercising a general supervision over the flock. He assures me that during many months' 



* Trans. New-Zealand Inat. 1868, vol. i. p. 160. 



