Order PASSERIFORMES.l 



[Family MUSCICAPIDJE. 



Xg 



PETHCECA TOITOI. 



(NORTH-ISLAND TOMTIT.) 



Myiomoira toitoi (Garnot), Buller, Birds of New Zealand, vol. i., p. 39. 



To show how scarce this once familiar species is becoming in the far North, I would refer 

 to Mr. Pycroft's account of the birds now to be found at the Bay of Islands.* He states 

 that once, during a trip to Puhipuhi, he shot two of them. The old Maoris, to whom he 

 showed the bird, recognised it, of course, but the younger generation pronounced it a a stranger 

 from abroad." 



It seems probable that the male aids in the task of incubation, for an 'adult bird of 

 this sex, shot in November, had the under-parts much denuded of feathers. 



An albino specimen from Otaki, for which I am indebted to Mr. Capper, has the plumage 

 of the body almost entirely white, with a few clouded specks on the breast and sides. The 

 wing-feathers, both primaries and secondaries, are irregularly pied ; the lateral tail-feathers 

 are marked as in the ordinary bird ; the middle feathers are perfectly white. Bill, legs, and 

 feet normal. 



I have to record another partial albino of this species from Wanganui. Body plumage 

 white, purest on the head, clouded with black on the sides of the neck, breast, and back; 

 quills black, with white tips ; wing-coverts almost entirely white ; innermost tail-feathers 

 white with a grey shade, and the rest normal ; bill and legs pale yellow. 



In Mr. Drew's collection at Wanganui there is a pure albino, presenting not a single 

 dark feather. 



In the Canterbury Museum Jmere is a nest of this species from the North Island. It is 

 a massive rounded structure, composed chiefly of mosses and dry leaves, closely fitted together. 

 It has a deep round cup, lined with fern-hair, with the edges beautifully rounded off, the 

 materials being closely pressed together. 



PETRCECA MACEOCEPHALA. 



(SOUTH-ISLAND TOMTIT.) 



Myiomoira macrocephala (Gmelin), Buller, Birds of New Zealand, vol. i., p. 42. 



I shall never forget my last drive through the lovely valley of the Buller (before reaching 

 the famous gorge of that name) in the summer of 1898, when, for hours together, the only 



* Trans. N.Z. Inst., vol. xxxi., pp. 141-146. 



