Obdeb PASSEKES.] 
GEEYGONE EL A VI VENTEIS. 
(GREY WARBLER.) 
[Eam. SYLVIID2E. 
Curruca igata, Quoy et Gaim. Voy. de l’Astrol., Zool. i. p. 201, pi. xi. fig. 2 (1830). 
Acantliiza igata , Gray, in DiefF. Tray, ii., App. p. 189 (1843). 
Gerygone fiaviventris , Gray, Voy. Ereb. and Terror, p. 5, pi. 4. fig. 1 (1844). 
Gerygone igata, id. op. cit. p. 5 (1844). 
Gerygone assimilis, Buller, Essay on Orn. N. Z. p. 9 (1865). 
Acantliiza fiaviventris. Gray, ITand-1. of B. i. p. 219 (1869). 
Native names. — lliroriro and Koriroriro. 
Ad. supra grisescenti-bnmneus, dorso et uropygio cum supracaudalibus olivaceo lavatis, his betius tinctis : tec- 
tricibus alarum remigibusque brunneis, cxtiis anguste olivaceo limbatis : rectricibus cinerascenti-brunners 
verstis apicem conspicue uigricantibus, duabus externis macula auteapicali alba notatis, reliquis ad apicem 
pocronii interni albo maculatis : facie lateral! guttureque toto sordide cinereis : corpore reliquo subtbs 
albicante, abdomine imo et hypocbondriis flavido tmctis, bis etiam paullb olivasceutibus : rostro et pedibus 
saturate brunneis : iride rubra. 
Juv. similis adultis, sed coloribus dilutioribus. 
Adult male. Upper parts brownish grey, tinged on the back with olivaceous brown ; throat, fore part of neck, 
breast, and sides cinereous grey ; abdomen and under tail-coverts white, the former slightly tinged with 
yellow; primaries dark brown, paler on the inner webs; tail-feathers dark brown in their basal, almost 
black in their apical portion, and, with the exception of the two median ones, having an angular white spot 
near the tip on their inner webs. The plumage is sooty black at the base, but this is only observable on 
moving the feathers. Irides red ; bill, tarsi, and toes dark brown. Total length 4'5 inches ; extent of 
wings G; wing, from flexure, 2T2; tail 2; culmen -3; tarsus -75 ; middle toe and claw -5; hind toe and 
claw ‘75. 
Female. Similar in plumage, but of smaller size. 
Young. In the young bird the tints of the plumage generally are paler and there is an entire absence of the 
yellow tinge. Irides brown. 
Obs. In some adult examples the measurements are slightly larger than those given above, there is an absence 
of the yellow tinge on the abdomen, and the white spot on the lateral tail-feathers is terminal. 
Note. A figure of this bird in the act of feeding a young Cuckoo will be found on the Plate representing 
Eudynamis taitensis. The illustration given in the ‘Yoy.de P Astrolabe ; is scarcely recognizable. 
In the warm sunlight of advancing summer, when the manuka-scrub is covered with its snow-white 
bloom and the air is laden with the fragrance of forest flowers, amidst the hum of happy insect-life, 
a soft trill of peculiar sweetness— like the chirping of a merry cricket— falls upon the ear, and 
presently a tiny bird appears for an instant on the topmost twigs of some low bush, hovers for a few 
moments, like a moth before a flower, or turns a somersault in the air, and then drops out of sight 
a„ a in. This is the Grey Warbler, the well-known Riroriro of Maori history and song. 
