148 



for the eggs. The moss generally used is a soft, light green kind, which is found trailing 

 from the branches of young trees in the forest; the same with which the Maoris in- 

 variably disguise their " tuke " or snares. But I have known the Tui in certain localities 

 substitute the greenish-white kohukohu (Usnea), which is seen hanging about the branches 

 of the kahikatea and other trees at the edges of swampy ground. When perfectly dry 

 this is very soft and yielding, and no doubt it suits the Tui's purpose as well as the 

 green forest moss. I met with exactly the same epiphytic growth in the Rocky Mountains 

 and in the United States of America. Here it is utilised by a particular species of 

 bird, the Parula Warbler (Compsothlypis americana)—^ lovely little bird attired in purple 

 and orange and white—which constructs its nest of this lichen, and uses no other material. 

 There are two or three pretty pensile nests of this bird in the Museum of the Academy 

 at Philadelphia. Sir H. H. Johnston reports that in the Uganda forests, in Africa, the 

 trees are sometimes richly draped with the Usnea lichen. 



A nest of this species (now in the Otago Museum) was found by our ' Sounds 

 excursion party' fixed in the branches of a makomako (Aristotelia racemosa), about 12 feet 

 from the ground, at the head of Milford Sound. It is of symmetrical shape, and firmly 

 put together, the outworks consisting of twigs and soft tree-moss, then a layer of fern-^ 

 hair, and inside of this a lining of white feathers. Curiously enough, these are sea-birds' 

 feathers, the builder of the nest having evidently repaired to the shores of the Sound to 

 collect them. 



On examining a series of ten eggs I find that they vary a good deal both as to 

 shape and colouring. For the most part they are of a narrow ovoido-elliptical form, with 

 a very ■, pronounced smaller end, but a few of them are less acuminate, and one is broadly 

 ovoid. A typical one measures 1*25 in. by 0*80 in.; the more rounded one I have mentioned 

 measures 1125 in. by 0'88 in. This is almost entirely white, with only a few indistinct widely 

 scattered rusty or pale red spots towards the larger end. The most highly coloured example 

 is of a delicate creamy-white • or salmon tint, the larger end darker and thickly spotted and 

 dotted with pale brown, these markings forming an indistinct zone. Two other eggs are almost 

 exactly similar to this one, but with a paler ground, and all three are probably from one nest. 

 Another set of three have scattered, somewhat obscure, pale brown markings over the entire 

 surface. The three remaining ones (presumably from one nest) are white, with here and 

 there a speck of pale brown, chiefly at the end. 



Obder PASSERIFORMES.l 



[Family MELIPHAGIMS. 



A C A N T H C H M R A C A P. UNCULA T A . 



(AUSTRALIAN HONEY-EATER.) 



Anthochaera carunculata (Latham), Buller, Birds of New Zealand, vol. i., p. 106. 



I am not aware that any more stragglers of this well-known species have been observed 

 in New Zealand since the publication of my work. 



