286 JOURNAL OF SCIENCE. 
25. Gerygone sylvestris, Potts. 
Wood Warbler.—Nothing has yet been ascertained of the 
breeding habits of this little warbler, whose cheerful notes en- 
liven the fern gullies of the dense forests between Okarito and 
Lake Mapourika. 
Genus—Certhiparus. 
26. Certhiparus Nove-Zelandie, Gm. 
Brown Creeper.—Builds its nest of moss, in which are en- 
twined a few feathers. 
The eggs are handsome ; broadly ovoid, freely sprinkled with 
purple-grey marks over the whole surface. 
It breeds in November and December, and lays three eggs. 
Notwithstanding it is so commonly met with, the nest is usually 
overlooked, for very few have been found, consequently the eggs 
are scarce in collections. J have seen this creeper in the garden 
for some days during winter: it seemed to prefer a belt of nut 
bushes to any other place there. 
I have a note of the young being found in a nest in December 
25th, in a wood above the gorge of the Rakaia; also another on 
the Upper Rangitata. 
Genus—Petroeca. 
27. Petroeca tot-tot, Less. 
Pied Tit, Miro-miro.—A few years since it was plentiful about 
the Upper Hutt Valley ; it appears to be as familiar in its habits 
as the yellow-breasted species. The nest is mostly built of moss, 
webs, fine sprays, tree-fern scales, &c. ; is usually placed within a 
hollow place in a decayed tree. Eggs four in number, white, 
speckled with dull brownish-grey, chiefly at the larger end; 
length nine lines ; with a breadth of seven lines. 
28. Petroeca macrocephala, Gm. 
Yellow-breasted Tit or Robin, Miro-miro, Ngoru-ngoru. In 
building the greater part of the labour falls to the share of the 
female. The materials are mosses, grass-bents, very thin fine 
sprays, cobwebs, woolly scales of tree-ferns, dead leaves, thin 
strips of bark ; feathers line the interior.* An average specimen 
measured across the walls at top five inches ; with a diameter of 
the cup about two and a-half inches; depth one and a-half 
inches, 
Eggs, four in number ; oval or ovoid, sometimes pointed at 
the smaller end; white, freckled towards the larger end with 
very small purple specks, quite distinctly marked ; white, with a 
faintly defined broad zone of dull purplish-grey around the apex, 
others from the same clutch more distinctly coloured ; white, with 
yellowish brown spots, towards the larger end, these are broader, 
and become intermixed with purplish-grey marks ; white, with 
purplish-grey specks, which are confluent round the larger end, _ 
forming a wide zone. The following note shows the period of 
* see N.Z. Country Journal, vol. 7, page gv. 
