OOLOGY OF NEW ZEALAND. 279 
occasionally elongate ; of delicate pink, very much marked with 
pale dull red, and faint red hair-like streaks, the smaller end 
nearly white and free from marks ; long ovoid, rather narrow at 
the smalller end, white, glossy, with pale red marks arranged 
vertically, darker and more numerous at the larger end ; ovoid, 
white, with a few rounded spots only at the larger end; white, 
rather rough in texture, with a few yellowish-red marks; white, 
with brownish red spots round the larger end; elongate, with 
red brown spots indistinctly edged, forming an irregularly shaped 
zone near the apex. Length, one inch two lines; breadth, ten 
lines. Breeding commences here in September, extending 
through the summer; it breeds twice in the year. Although 
very quarrelsome and tyrannical to cther species at nesting time, 
I once found it incubating in a mossy dell close to nests of 
Keropia and Glaucopis. It usually lays three to four eggs ; when 
the young are hatched it carries away egg-shells some distance 
from its home. 
Genus—Anthornis. 
12. Anthoruts melanura, Sparrm. 
Bell bird, Korimako, Makomako, which last name settlers 
often render into Mockymock.—This well-known bird is yet to 
be found in tolerable abundance in many districts here. The 
planting of acacias is a great help towards its support during the 
winter and early spring months; their flowers form a source of 
food of which it cannot be deprived by the blackbirds and other 
introduced species. I planted a few of several kinds of acacia 
for it in 1867, and have been recompensed by the constant 
melody of bell-birds throughout each winter. Last May I was 
informed by Sir George Grey that of late it had appeared again 
at Kawau, presumably arriving from the Little Barrier Island, 
some fifteen miles distant. The Manual of the Birds of New 
Zealand states this species to be rapidly dying out, so perhaps 
one may be held excused in giving detailed particulars of nesting 
and eggs in rather copious extracts from my note-book. It 
seems worth recording that notwithstanding the mixed character 
of the plantations here, I have rarely found the nest in any in- 
troduced species of tree or shrub; its favourite trees selected to 
breed inare tior cabbage tree (Cordyline), manuka (Leptospermum), 
ngaio (Wyoporum), konini (Fuchsia), especially if these are partly 
covered with trailers of Rubus or Muhlenbeckia. Several other 
kinds, such as Coriaria, Carpodetus, or Coprosma, are also made 
use of, but are not in so much request as the species mentioned. 
In the busy breeding season both sexes work at nest-building. 
Placed at no great elevation from the ground, the structure may 
be observed in a variety of situations ; often beneath the shelter 
of bush-lawyer, near the top of a moderate sized tree or shrub ; 
very often it is completely hidden under the loose thatch of per- 
sistent leaves that hang a-down the tall stem of ati palm. It iis 
rather flat, with a well formed cup, loosely yet strongly built of 
sprays, grass, moss, well lined with feathers, From wall to wall 
