103 



This appears to be a late breeder. On November 28th, in the Puketoi Eange, I was 

 sitting on a log skinning a Huia, and the camp was perfectly still. On the ground around were 

 numerous feathers of a Kaka my Maori attendant had plucked for breakfast. A Eifieman (the 

 male bird) came almost to my feet, and, picking up a feather, flew away with it, and then a 

 second and a third. On the last occasion I followed the bird, and saw it enter a round cavity 

 about the size of a rat's hole, sixteen or eighteen feet up the trunk of a young hinau. The day 

 following, in the Makuri Gorge, I saw another of these birds carrying a feather, evidently for 

 nest-building purposes. 



It seems pretty clear that the male of this species assists in the work of incubation, for 

 a specimen which I shot in the Ngarara Eanges, on October 13th, had the under-parts 

 completely denuded of feathers. It was evidently the end of the breeding season, because, 

 on dissection, I found the testes extremely minute. As I have already explained (' Birds of 

 New Zealand,' vol. i., p. 115), this singular little bird is in reality a dwarf Pitta of a degenerate 

 type. It would be interesting to know whether other members of this family (to which I have 

 given the name Xenicidcs) have the same habit, or whether the males of any of the true Pittas 

 are known to incubate. 



There is a nest of this species in the Canterbury Museum. It is a long, somewhat pear- 

 shaped structure, with a deep cavity, having its entrance at the larger end. It is composed of 

 wiry twigs, grass stems, and skeletons of leaves ; and contains a single white, ovoid egg. 



An exhaustive memoir on the anatomy of Acantliidositta chloris, with some remarks 

 on the systematic position of the genera Acantliidositta and Xenicus, by Mr. W. P. Py craft, 

 appears in the 'Ibis' for October, 1905 (vol. v., pp. 603-621). 



Order PASSEEIFOEMES.] 



[Family XENICIDiE. 



ACANTHIDOSITTA CITRINA. 



(ALPINE EIFLEMAN .) 



Acanthidositta chloris (Gmelin), Buller [in part], Birds of New Zealand, vol. L, p. 113. 



Dr. Finsch has long contended that Acantliidositta citrina is distinguishable from A. chloris, 

 being larger and somewhat different in its coloration. 



I have received some fine specimens from the Alpine country in the provincial district of 

 Nelson, and am now constrained to admit the species. 



Mr. Brough writes me : "I am sending you some specimens of the Alpine or Snow Eifieman, 

 It is much larger than the species inhabiting the lowlands. I met with it generally at an 

 altitude of 4,000 feet, on the outskirts of the forest growth. They generally move about in pairs, 

 and are not unlike the Bush- Wren in their habits. They seemed to be paired all the winter. 

 1 am quite certain that this bird is distinct from A. chloris, and my experience of the birds 

 in this district extends back some thirty years, during the whole of which time I have spent 

 several months in the year in remote parts of the country." 



