35 
It lives almost entirely on small insects and the worms and grubs which are to be found 
among decaying leaves and other vegetable matter on the surface of the ground in every part of 
the woods. Its nature is pugnacious and, in the pairing-season, the male birds often engage in sharp 
encounters with each other. 
It generally breeds in the months of October and November. It constructs a large and compact 
nest, composed externally of coarse moss firmly interwoven and thickly lined inside with the soft 
hair-like substance which covers the young stems of the tree-fern. It is usually built against the 
bole of a tree, at a moderate elevation from the ground, being often found attached to and supported 
by the wiry stems of the kiekie ( Freycinetia banJcsii), a climbing parasitical plant which is everywhere 
abundant. I have found scores of the nests of this species, and almost invariably in the situation 
described. I found one, however, placed in the fork of a tree at some elevation, and another in the 
truncated stem of a tree-fern ( Gyathea dealbata). The eggs are usually three in number, broadly 
ovoido-conical, and measuring -95 of an inch in length by -70 in breadth ; they are of a creamy 
white colour, thickly freckled and speckled with purple and brown, these markings being denser at 
the thick end, where they form an indistinct purplish zone. 
Should the nest happen to be molested after the young are hatched, the parent birds manifest 
the utmost solicitude, hopping about near the intruder with outspread and quivering wings, uttering 
a low piping note, and showing every symptom of real distress. 
The last example of the nest I examined was obtained recently on the Little Barrier Island, 
where it was found supported against the bole of a tree about five feet from the ground. It is not 
so massive as many I have seen, and is composed chiefly (and probably for protective purposes) of the 
green moss which clings to the trunks of old trees, mixed with dry leaves and little twigs of wood ; 
the cup, which is rather shallow, measures three and a half inches in diameter and is deeply lined 
with fern-hair and vegetable fibres. It was found about the middle of December, just after the 
young birds had quitted it. 
But for the fact that much of the foregoing article applies equally to the South-Island species, it 
would have been almost necessary to expunge it from the present edition ; for, alas ! its subject, instead 
of being, as formerly, the commonest of our native birds, is now one of the rarest. It is still comparatively 
plentiful on the Island of Kapiti, and on some of the wooded islets in the Hauraki Gulf ; but it is 
seldom met with on the mainland, and, in common with many other native forms, its doom is sealed. 
Ornithologists everywhere must regret this, because the genus to which it belongs has no 
representative in any other part of the world; and those who are at all familiar with the bird itself 
will assuredly grieve over its threatened extirpation. Personally I regard this gentle Robin with a 
strong sentiment of affection. In the days of my boyhood it was one of the dominant species, and 
some of my earliest memories are associated with it. The first nest I ever found in my juvenile 
excursions through the bush near^ the parental home — the dear old Church Mission station of forty 
years ago — was naturally that of the Robin. It was the first bird of which I ever prepared a specimen ; 
and having, while yet at school, conceived the idea of writing a history of our native birds, I well 
remember that the first species whose biography I essayed to sketch was this everyday companion of 
my holiday rambles. Its presence therefore never fails to awaken reminiscences of the past ; but 
unfortunately ere long the bird itself will be but a memory of by-gone years. Either on account of 
its being an easy prey to wild cats and rats, or else in obedience to some inexplicable law of nature, 
the species is rapidly dying out ; and it requires no prophetic vision to foresee its utter extinction 
within a very short period. Well may the Maori say, as he laments over the decadence of his own 
race — “ Even as the Pitoitoi has vanished from the woods, so will the Maori pass away from the 
land and be forgotten ! ” 
p 2 
