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116 



common fowl, together with a few Parrakeet feathers. The young birds had not got their eyes 

 open, and the mother fed them fearlessly, even in the presence of persons standing a few 

 yards off. 



There is a somewhat remarkable nest of this species, from Freshwater Basin, Milford 

 Sound, in the Colonial Museum. It is a very massive structure, and of the shape of a horse's 

 hoof, but very much longer, measuring about 8 in. in depth, and tapering to the apex, which 



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BUSH VIEW IN THE BULLEK VALLEY. 



is about 4J in. across, with a deep circular cup. The nest is composed of dry mosses, rootlets, 

 and minute vegetable twigs, all compactly welded together and exhibiting a marvellous amount 

 of industry in so tiny a builder. The rim of the cup is lined with a few grass bents, and 

 the interior is formed of soft vegetable materials, apparently gathered from the ground, such 

 as the seed-pods of mosses, &c. A nest from the Chatham Islands, ascribed to this species, 

 is of the same type as that described above, but appreciably smaller, composed of dry mosses, 

 leaves, small twigs, and vegetable fibres, all felted well together. It has a neat round cup, 

 about T5 in. deep, carefully lined with fern, hair and dry moss. 



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