41 
trees on their outer facies are more or less covered with kohukohu, a feathery fungus of a pale green 
colour, hanging like drapery from the branches, while their trunks and limbs are clad to their very 
tops with the richest profusion of lichens and mosses. No idea can be formed of the quasi-tropical 
richness of these woods in this respect by any one who has not actually visited them. 
Its ally, Myiomoira macrocephala, in the South Island, has the same habit of frequenting high 
altitudes; for not only is this bird met with among the high tussock-grass on the plains, but likewise 
on the summits of the ranges, flitting about among the snow-grass and other stunted vegetation, at an 
elevation of 5000 feet or more, and subsisting on the small alpine lepidoptera and their larvae, or such 
diptera and other minute insects as inhabit these mountain heights. 
Common as this species is, I have found it difficult to study its breeding-habits, and have never- 
succeeded in finding more than one nest. I met with this in the Upper Hutt valley, in the neigh- 
bourhood of Wellington, as late as the 3rd of December. It was placed in the cavity of a tree a 
few feet from the ground, and contained four young birds apparently about a week old. The nest 
was composed entirely of dry moss, shallow in its construction, but with a neatly finished rim 01 - 
outer edge. The parent birds manifested some solicitude for the safety of their offspring while 1 was 
handling them. After I had replaced the young birds and retired a few steps from the spot, the 
female squatted upon the nest, which was sufficiently near the entrance of the cavity to be distinctly 
visible; and on being disturbed she fluttered away with wings outstretched and quivering, as if 
unable to fly, and apparently to divert attention from the nest. 
Mr. Weston Brown, a bird-collector at Wellington, showed me a pair of newly fledged young 
birds of this species which he had taken himself. He informed me that he had found them in a 
rudely constructed nest in the hollow of a whitewood tree, and about 9 inches from the entrance. 
There were only two young birds in the nest, and these were male and female. The plumage of the 
former was strongly suffused with brown ; but the colours were sufficiently distinct to indicate the sex. 
During the early part of the breeding-season the female is never visible, and I think it is 
probable that while engaged in the task of incubation she is attended and fed by the male, for I have 
seen the latter carrying food in his bill. As late as September 30, I have seen as many as ten males 
in an afternoon’s ramble, without catching a glimpse of the other sex. The young birds do not seem 
to pair till the second year ; for in the breeding-season I have, on dissection, found well-plumaged 
birds with microscopic testes, whilst in others these organs were developed to the size of buck-shot, 
being conspicuously large for so small a creature. 
There is every reason to believe that this species breeds twice in the season, because it is a 
common thing to find nests containing fresh eggs in October and again in December. The usual 
complement of eggs is four, but sometimes there are only three. Mr. Eeischek told me that, on the 
Little Barrier, he came upon a nest, containing three eggs, which through some misadventure had 
got filled with rain-water. The birds seemed fully aware of the gravity of the situation, and were 
flitting around it in a very excited and distressed manner ; but when he proceeded to take possession 
of both nest and eggs they sat perfectly quiet and did not utter a sound. 
The nest is a compact round structure, with a thick foundation, and composed of dry moss, 
grass, and vegetable fibres, felted together ; the cup, which is comparatively large, measuring 2-25 
inches in diameter, is often lined with the inner bark of the ribbon-wood (Hoheria jiojntlnea), and the 
outer ritn is well pressed together just as if bound by some invisible thread. The eggs are of large size 
in proportion to the bird, measuring -85 inch in length by -80 in breadth ; they are in form broadly 
ovoido-conical and are creamy white, freckled all over with yellowish brown, the markings running 
together and forming a clouded zone near the larger end. Sometimes the zone is absent and the 
freckled appearance less pronounced. A specimen taken from a nest in the hole of a dry stump 
differs in being of a pale reddish tint, thickly speckled and freckled with light brown. 
Ot 
