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proposed by Lesson as early as 1837, and as the adoption of the older specific name would, according 
to this view, give the confused result of Turnagra tanagra, I have deemed myself justified in retaining 
the distinctive appellation of T. hectori. At the same time I am anxious to give due prominence to 
the fact that Professor Schlegel was the first to discover the existence of this new species. 
There is a peculiar charm about the New-Zealand forest in the early morning ; for shortly after 
daylight a number of birds of various kinds join their voices in a wild jubilee of song, which, gene- 
rally speaking, is of very short duration. This was the morning concert to which Captain Cook 
referred in such terms of enthusiasm ; and the woods of Queen Charlotte’s Sound, where his ship lay 
at anchor, are no exception to the general rule. In illustration of this, I take the following from an 
entry in one of my note-books : — “ Tuesday, 5 a.m. — At this moment the wooded valley of the 
Mangaone, in which we have been camped for the night, is ringing with delightful music. It is 
somewhat difficult to distinguish the performers amidst the general chorus of voices. The silvery 
notes of the Bell-bird, the bolder song of the Tui, the loud continuous strain of the native Bobin, 
the joyous chirping of a flock of White-heads, and the whistling cry of the Piopio — all these voices 
of the forest are blended together in wild harmony. And the music is occasionally varied by the 
harsh scream of a ITaka passing overhead, or the noisy chattering of a pair of Parrakeets on a neigh- 
bouring tree, and at regular intervals the far-off cry of the Long-tailed Cuckoo and the whistling call 
of its bronze-winged congener ; while on every hand may be heard the soft trilling notes of Myiomoira 
toitoi. For more than an hour after this concert had ceased, and the sylvan choristers had dispersed 
m search of their daily food, one species continued to enliven the valley with his musical notes. This 
biid was the Piopio, or New-Zealand Thrush, the subject of the present article, and unquestionably 
the best of our native songsters. His song consists of five distinct bars, each of which is repeated 
six oi seven times in succession ; but he often stops abruptly in his overture to introduce a variety 
of other notes, one of which is a peculiar rattling sound, accompanied by a spreading of the tail, and 
apparently expressive of ecstacy. Some of the notes are scarcely distinguishable from those of the 
Yellow-head ; and I am inclined to think that the bird is endowed with mocking-powers. The 
ordinary note, however, of the Piopio, whence it derives its name, is a short, sharp, whistling cry, 
quickly repeated. 
It was when I obtained a caged Piopio that I first became acquainted with its superior vocal 
powers. In 1866 I purchased one for a guinea from a settler in Wellington, in whose possession it 
had been for a whole year. Although an adult bird when taken, it appeared to have become perfectly 
reconciled to confinement ; but on being placed in a new cage it made strenuous assaults on the wire 
bais, and persevered till the feathers surrounding its beak were rubbed off and a raw wound exposed. 
It then desisted for several days ; but when the abraded part had fairly healed, it renewed the attempt, 
and with such determined effort that the fore part of the head was completely disfigured, and the life 
of the bird endangered. On being removed, however, to a spacious compartment of the aviary, it 
immediately became reconciled to its condition, made no further efforts to escape, and for a period of 
fifteen months (when it came to an untimely end) it continued to exhibit the contentment and spright- 
liness of a bird in a state of nature. 
I observed that this bird was always most lively during or immediately preceding a shower of 
rain. He often astonished me with the power and variety of his notes. Commencing sometimes with 
the loud strains of the Thrush, he would suddenly change his song to a low flute-note of exquisite 
sweetness ; and then abruptly stopping, would give vent to a loud rasping cry, as if mimicking a pair 
of Australian Magpies confined in the same aviary. During the early morning he emitted at intervals 
a short flute-note, and when alarmed or startled uttered a sharp repeated whistle. 
This caged bird was generally fed on dry pulse or grain ; but he also evinced a great liking for 
cooked potato and raw meat of all kinds; in fact he appeared to be omnivorous, readily devouring 
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