OOLOGY OF NEW ZEALAND. 287 
incubation :—November 1, nest begun ; November 10, first egg 
laid ; the fourth egg was laid on the 13th, and the young were 
hatched on the 29th. Several instances have been observed of 
its building in porches, sheds, or outhouses. On September 8 I 
found a nest in a corner of the roof of a hut, and amongst the 
materials were bits of rags, scraps of paper, some short lengths 
of worsted. I have noticed the nest on the face of a high cliff 
by the sea, under the arch of a bridge on a public road, in crevices 
of cave-like rocks, in the hollows of decayed trees, amongst the 
pendant leaves of ti or cabbage-trees, in the close boughs of up- 
right cypress, in manuka, in the dry persistent fronds of a grand 
Hemitelia. In this instance, in addition to moss, dead leaves, the 
brown scales of the fern on which it was built, the nest had some 
chips of white bark. In my Notes on the Breeding Habits of 
New Zealand Birds, Trans. N.Z. Inst., Vol. II., there are given 
figures of two curiously-shaped nests, which were placed in the 
Canterbury Museum. This familiar bird sometimes surprises 
one by the odd sites it chooses for its home. On the 12th Sep- 
tember a pair had nearly completed their structure in an old 
metal teapot that hung on the stem of a ngaio tree ; on the next 
day I found a pair building in the folds of some mats of bass 
that were hanging over a beam ina barn. I have known it to 
be carrying nesting-stuff as early as July 26. This season If 
observed it building at the end of August; but the following 
month, when the lengthened days give us spring warmth and 
growth, is the season when breeding is common. At the middle 
of the month, the 15th, I have counted six pairs nesting within 
an area of some twenty acres of suitable country. I havea note 
of a solitary instance of this bird becoming the dupe of the 
smaller cuckoo—this was observed at Ohinitahi. 
29. Petroeca longipes, Less. 
Wood-robin.—The nest is well and firmly built of mosses, 
fine roots, dead leaves, webs, tree-fern scales; these are so 
carefully and judiciously arranged and twisted together that the 
fabric, in its neat and compact form, is really a most interesting 
and Deautiful object. Eggs, usually three or four in number, 
_ ovoid, dull white, plentifully marked with greyish-brown. 
30. Petroeca albifrons, Gm. 
Robin, Toto-ara.—This delightful warbler is decreasing in 
numbers very rapidly; soon it is to be feared it will cease to charm 
the ears of those who dwell in woodland districts. Wanting the 
compactness which distinguishes the work of many of its con- 
geners, nevertheless the nest of this species is a complete study 
in natural history. There is a certain degree of boldness in 
conception disclosed not only by the scale on which the lines of 
its ample dwelling are founded, but also by the design which is so 
thoroughly well carried out for the comfortable accommodation 
of at most four nurslings. The philoprogenitiveness of our 
robin begins early and ends early, as may be seen when it is 
