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commenced ! The boy who shot the bird, and who did not really know that it ivas a Tui 

 till he had it in his hand, was prosecuted for a breach of the prohibitory Act, and was 

 fined ^3 10s. and costs, and the Tui itself, which was traced to the Museum, was con- 

 fiscated to the Crown. Questions were asked about it in the Parliament which happened 

 to be in session, the Member for Taranaki, with much vehemence, claimed the bird for 

 the local museum, and the Press of the Colony was full of the incident. In this way the 

 enactment, which hitherto had been little more than a dead letter, became known and was 

 discussed in every settler's home. The snow-white Tui suffered destruction, but its life 

 was not sacrificed in vain; for in the country districts it is now widely known that to 

 shoot a Tui is a violation of the statute law and may be punished by fine or imprisonment. 

 In this instance a fine of seventy shillings upon a country lad, who possessed nothing in the 

 world, was a very exemplary punishment. 



My son Percy, who examined this specimen, writes me: "It is a beauty, being pure 

 white except on the crown of the head, which is smoky-brown." 



But the most beautiful one I have seen is the " White Tui of Westport," belonging 

 to Mr. Townson, whose collection of native birds has for years past been one of the attrac- 

 tions of that town. On my last visit to Westport, Mr. Townson kindly presented this unique 

 specimen to me, and it is now one of my ornithological treasures. It is a lovely bird, of 

 snowy whiteness, without a single dark feather on any part of its body. It came into his 

 possession alive, and he then noticed that it had jxile blue iricles. The bill and feet are 

 white horn colour. 



A remarkable specimen which has been added to my son's collection, has the head and neck 

 all round, the whole of the breast and sides of the body umber-brown, the feathers of the breast 

 having pale shafts ; neck-frill very indistinct, being often reduced to mere shaft-lines of white ; 

 upper surface of body, wings and tail creamy-white, with a broad alar bar of pure white ; 

 thighs, abdomen, and upper and lower tail-coverts pale yellowish-brown ; quills and tail-coverts 

 umber-brown on their inner webs ; neck-bands pure white ; bill and feet horn-coloured. 



The Rev. Canon Stack writes: "I want to tell you, before I forget, about a curious 

 acquired habit I have noticed in the imported Starlings. The roof of my house is a favourite 

 breeding-place, and we always have them about us. Close to the house, along a running 

 stream, native flax grows in abundance. While this was in flower I noticed what I thought 

 to be Tuis sucking the honey. The action of the birds on the flax-stalks exactly resembled 

 that of Tuis, but on examining them more closely I discovered that they were Starlings. 

 Have they learnt the habit from seeing the Tuis, which they probably mistook for their own 

 species ?" 



Mr. W. W. Smith, in a communication to the 'Entomologist,' says: "The Tui or 

 Parson-bird (Prostliemadera novce-zealcmdice) has been detected killing the introduced Humble 

 Bees of Akaroa, on Banks Peninsula. The case is remarkable as illustrating how new 

 habits are acquired, or family habits are destroyed in some species of birds when certain 

 conditions are present. As the Tui is one of the native Honey-suckers, it is possible it 

 also was killing Humble Bees to feed its young (as the introduced Starlings are in the habit 

 of doing) when it discovered the honey-sac of the insects. The Tui, while engaged in 

 killing the Bees, would discover their honey-sac, which would also lead to a continuance of 

 the habit as a ready means of procuring their favourite food." 



I have read somewhere that specimens of Strejiera graculina, in Australia, shot in the 

 neighbourhood of Sydney, sometimes exhibit a violet discolouration in their internal parts, 

 this being occasioned through the birds feeding upon a species of ink-weed. The same 

 thing happens in the case of the Tui, when feeding on the tutu, mahoe, and other 

 highly coloured berries. 



