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115 



sign of animation was the solitary Tomtit flitting from one side of the road to the other, 

 ever and anon perching on the upright boles of the trees, exhibiting its finely contrasted 

 colours, and uttering at intervals its melodious note, from which it takes its native name of 

 Ngiru-ngiru. 



In this " sylvan paradise," on which the eye of the traveller never ceases to feast, the 

 tree-ferns are a perfect study. The commonest species here is Dicksonia squarrosa. There 

 are, without exaggeration, millions of them skirting the road over which the daily coach 

 passes. At one of the roadside diggings I saw one growing out of an abandoned shaft, its 

 crown just fitting the treacherous opening. Cyathea smithii, a species very sporadic in its 

 distribution, is also very abundant here. At Woodstock, at the entrance to the valley, a settler 

 had fenced in his quarter-acre holding with the trunks of Cyathea antarctica, placed close 

 together, and these had sent up shapely crowns, forming a picturesque and really beautiful 

 fringe to his little domain. Lower down the valley I noticed, at one place, that a number of 

 Cyathea smithii had been cut down and their trunks utilised as a boundary fence by being 

 stuck in the ground in a close line. They also had sent up new fronds forming a live 

 fence of unusual beauty. At intervals I saw many of these tree-ferns intermixed with Cyathea 

 antarctica, their crowns, both as to shape and droop, being very similar in the younger state, 

 except that the fronds of the former were more arched and feathery. On close inspection, 

 however, they are very easily distinguished by their central stems, those of C. antarctica being 

 of uniform thickness — straight and narrow and built up, as it were, of basal stalks of growths 

 that had been shed — those of C. smithii massive, often pyramidal or swelling towards the 

 base, and composed of woody fibres closely matted together. It will be observed that the 

 fronds of this species get narrower with age, the mature tree forming a very graceful object. 

 Even in the young state, however, the spreading fronds, as seen just overtopping the roadside 

 vegetation, are particularly regular and symmetrical. In one locality I saw a splendid display 

 of Cyathea smithii — probably a hundred or more scattered about in an old clearing — fine, stately 

 trees with perfect crowns, their stems densely clothed with withered fronds, hanging round 

 them like the folds of a skirt, and presenting a very distinctive appearance. 



At the time of my visit the whole bush was ablaze with the scarlet flowers of the 

 climbing tawhihi, or Metrosideros, large bunches of which clung to the boles of the trees and 

 sometimes enveloped them from top to bottom. 



To illustrate the beauty of this characteristic vegetation, I introduce a photograph taken 

 at random on this road. (See p. 116.) 



The young bird, like the adult, has a pronounced yellow tinge on the breast. The 

 young has the same piping note as the adult, but much weaker. At Stewart Island I saw 

 an albino, but failed to get it, although I made every effort. 



Mr. W. W. Smith writes ('Ibis,' 1893, p. 510): "In the month of January, when the 

 family cares are over for the season, many adults and young leave their island bush haunts, 

 and disperse over the plains, visiting the gardens and the plantations of the settlers. They 

 remain about farmhouses and are common in the vicinity of towns till the month of August, 

 when they again return to the bush to pair and breed. The migratory habit is due to the 

 presence of more food in the settled districts than in the vicinity of the bush." 



In the 'Journal of Science ' for January, 1883, Mr. W. E. Barker, of Waikonini, Eangitata, 

 records the occurrence of two nests of this little bird in a remarkable locality. They 

 were placed in the holes of a black-pine post which had formerly been used as a slip- 

 panel. The upper one was either deserted or not quite finished; that in the lower hole had 

 two young ones in it. Both nests were neatly made just to fit close to the sides of the 

 slot-holes in the post, and well back. Outwardly they were made of small chips of wood, 

 short grass, roots and moss, while the inside was lined with moss and a mass of feathers of the 





