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the thicket, hiding itself and remaining perfectly silent till the danger has passed. Frequent attempts 
have been made to keep it caged ; but although it will readily feed, it seldom survives confinement 
many weeks. Only one instance of complete success has come to my knowledge. Mrs. Fereday, 
residing near Christchurch, kept several of them caged for upwards of two years ; and I am indebted 
to that lady for the following amusing account of these captives : — They were adult birds when 
taken, but soon became reconciled to the restraints of a canary-cage, and partook readily of bread 
soaked in milk. They were interesting objects on account of their extreme display of mutual 
affection, as they were always caressing one another and preening each other’s feathers. This 
demonstration of affection, however, was at length carried too far, as one of them contracted a habit 
of pulling out his neighbour’s feathers, in order to suck the oily matter from the roots of the quills. 
The practice was commenced during the seasonal moult, when the pen-feathers were present, but was 
continued afterwards, till it became necessary to turn out the offender and introduce a wild bird in 
its place. But the practice soon became general, each bird plucking and submitting to be plucked 
in the most business-like manner. The operation was usually commenced on the neck, and it was 
very droll, said my informant, to see the bird holding its head up, as a man would sit to be shaved, 
while the feathers were plucked out one by one. The birds were then separated, but they mani- 
fested the utmost distress, crying plaintively and refusing their food. On the first opportunity they 
resumed their old habit, and at length one of them was plucked completely bare ! Finding the case 
hopeless, Mrs. Fereday then liberated the birds in the garden, where they seemed to suffer from the 
colder temperature of the open air, and shortly disappeared altogether, probably falling victims to 
some predatory cat. 
At the period when they were most plentiful at Wellington, an unaccountable mortality 
manifested itself ; and in one particular locality, near Te Aro, sometimes as many as twenty dead 
ones were found in the morning under the Eucalyptus tree in which the flock had roosted for 
the night. 
Mr. Colenso observes that “ when they retire to roost they sleep in pairs, cuddling quite close 
together, like love-parrots ; and before they fold their heads under their wings they bill and preen 
each other’s head and neck most lovingly, uttering at the same time a gentle twittering note.” 
Mr. Potts informs me that, in Canterbury, this species begins nesting early in October. In one 
instance, within his own observation, the birds commenced incubation on October 16, the young were 
hatched on October 25, and left the nest on November 4. In the North Island the breeding-season 
is somewhat later. As late as the 24th of December I met with a nest in the Taupo-Patea country, 
containing two perfectly fresh eggs. The nest is a slight cup-shaped structure, with a rather large 
cavity for the size of the bird, and is generally found suspended by side-fastenings to hanging vines, 
or to the slender twigs of Leptospermum , Olearia , and other shrubs, and sometimes to the common 
fern ( Eteris aquilina). The eggs are generally three in number (sometimes four), ovoido-conical in 
form, measuring -7 of an inch in length by '5 in breadth, and of a beautiful, uniform pale blue 
colour. 
Nests of this species exhibit some variety, both as to structure and the materials of which they 
are composed. Of three specimens now before me, one is of slight construction and shallow in its 
cavity, composed externally of green-coloured lichen, spiders’ nests, the downy seed-vessels of the 
pikiarero (or flowering clematis), and a few dry leaves, lined internally with long horse-hair disposed 
in a circular form ; another is of smaller size, more compact, composed externally of crisp dry moss, 
and internally of grass-bents with a few long hairs interlaced ; while the third has the exterior walls 
constructed entirely of spiders’ nests and stiff fibrous mosses, the former predominating, and the 
interior lining composed wholly of long horse-hair. 
At Akitio (in the North Island), where wild pigs are very plentiful, the Blight-birds habitually 
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