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Miro proposed by Lesson having a prior claim in regard to date. The long legs, shorter wings, and stouter 
bill distinguish this genus from Petrceca and bring it nearer to Erytliacus. 
This species is confined to the North Island, where, till within the last ten years, it was very common 
in all the wooded parts of the country ; but it is represented in the South Island by a closely allied 
and still common species, the Miro albifrons. There is a specimen of the North-Island Robin in the 
Auckland Museum said to have been obtained at Nelson ; but I have never found this bird south of 
Cook’s Strait, and vice versd as regards the South-Island Robin. The two species may therefore be 
regarded as true representatives of each other in the North and South Islands respectively. 
Generally speaking, in New Zealand it is only on the outskirts of the woods that we meet with 
insessorial birds in any number. As we penetrate into the heart of the forest, the birds become 
fewer, till at length they almost entirely disappear. But there is one species whose range seems to 
be quite without restraint: common enough in the open coppice, it is to be found also in the 
gloomiest and most secluded parts of the forest. This bird is the subject of our article the Pitoitoi 
or Toutouwai * of the natives and the “ Robin ” of the colonists. 
I have been assured by officers who accompanied the celebrated Taranaki expedition under 
Major-General Sir Trevor Chute, in 1866, that during that long and irksome march the Robin was 
the only bird that gave any sign of life to those interminable and gloomy forests through which the 
army passed. The lively twitter and song of the smaller birds had ended with the first day’s march, 
the harsh cry of the Kaka (. Nestor meridional ™ ), which had attended them far into the bush, had 
gradually ceased to be heard, and the Wood-Pigeon ( Carpophaga novas-zealandiae ) , whose range 
extends to the summits of the low wooded ridges of the interior, was no longer to be met with. An 
oppressive silence reigned around them, broken only by the shrill chirp of the startled Robin as the 
advanced guard cut a path for the troops through the hitherto untrodden woods. Indeed the presence 
of this little bird was the only exception to the utter absence of animal life, and almost the only 
relief to the monotony of the march. Perched on a low branch, it might frequently be seen looking 
gravely down, as if in silent wonderment, on the weary ranks, as they toiled their way through this 
virgin forest in the very heart of the enemy’s country ! 
As the popular name implies, it is naturally a tame bird ; and in little-frequented parts of the 
country it is so fearless and unsuspicious of man that it will approach to within a yard of the traveller, 
and sometimes will even perch on his head or shoulder. It is the favourite companion of the 
lonesome wood-cutter, enlivening him with its cheerful notes; and when, sitting on a log, he 
partakes of his humble meal, it hops about at his feet, like the traditional Robin, to pick up the 
crumbs. 
Like its namesake in the old country, moreover, it is noisy, active, and cheerful. Its note is 
generally the first to herald the dawn, while it is the last to be hushed when the evening shades 
bring gloom into the forest. But there is this noticeable difference between the morning and the 
evening performance: the former consists of a scale of notes commencing very high and running 
down to a low key, uttered in quick succession, and with all the energy of a challenge to the rest 
of the feathered tribe ; and I have sometimes heard a native, when listening to this strain, exclaim 
“Kakanga te manu ra!” (How that bird swears!). The evening performance is merely a short 
chirping note, quickly repeated, and with a rather melancholy sound. Three or four of them will 
sometimes join in a chirping chorus, and continue it till the shades of advancing twilight have 
deepened into night. 
* There are some curious coincidences with Maori names, of which this is an instance. The Robin is called “ Toutouwai” 
by the Kgapuhi tribe at the far north. The small European Owl, Athene noctuct, has “ Koukouwai ” as its Greek name. Drop 
the final syllable, and we have the Maori name for the New-Zealand Owl, “ ICoukou.” 
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