93 
larger. It differs, moreover, in having the whole of the head and neck brightly glossed with purplish 
or steel-blue. 
During a visit to the Chatham Islands in 1855, I observed this Antliornis in the woods near 
Waitangi, and procured a specimen, although, as already mentioned, 1 was unable at the time to 
identify it. In giving it a provisional name, I selected the beautiful golden irides as presenting a 
good distinguishable feature, those of A. melanura being bright cherry-red. I observed that its habits 
were precisely similar to those of the common Bell-bird, but that its notes appeared to be louder and 
somewhat less musical. Its gregarious instincts are the same ; for, on imitating the alarm-cry, I was 
immediately surrounded by a number of these birds in a high state of excitement. 
Mr. Henry Travers, from whom I have received several specimens, states that he found it in 
great numbers on Mangare, less frequent on the main island, and rare on Pitt Island. It had com- 
menced to breed in October, and its nest, which he describes as being “ composed of grass and feathers, 
large and coarsely constructed,” contained as a rule three eggs. He considers its song richer and 
fuller than that of its New-Zealand congener. It seemed to me very much the same, but louder. 
It is said that of late years this bird has deserted the neighbourhood of the native villages and 
settlers’ homesteads, and retired to the southern portion of Wharekauri (as the main island is called), 
where the woods have not yet been destroyed *. 
It is a remarkable fact that whereas the New-Zealand bird is common enough at the Chatham 
Islands, this larger form has never been found in any part of New Zealand. The two species subsist 
on the same kind of food ; and it is difficult to account for this peculiarity of range on any principle 
of geographical distribution. Where species are representative of each other in neighbouring islands, 
as is the case with several birds inhabiting the North and South Islands respectively, this differentia- 
tion of character, with the necessary lapse of time, is intelligible enough ; but the present case is 
entirely different. If the long- continued separation had affected the New-Zealand bird to any appre- 
ciable degree, the same result must presumably have happened to the same bird in the Chatham 
Islands, four hundred miles distant ; we find, however, the same type common to both places, which 
in itself would occasion no surprise but for the singular fact that the larger and stronger form, 
associated with it, is confined strictly to the smaller area, and preserves its distinctive character. 
It seems to me probable that in former times both species inhabited New Zealand, and that, as 
Antliornis melanura is now rapidly disappearing from the mainland, so in like manner the other 
species may have died out before we became acquainted with the country. In that case, however, it 
would be necessary to discover some other factor than the Norwegian rat, which, as explained on a 
former page, is suspected of the principal mischief now. The survival of the extirpated race in the 
Chatham Islands is consistent with this supposition, because it is an observed law of nature that 
expiring races of animals and plants linger to the last in such insular areas. 
The nest of this species is very much larger than that of the Antliornis melanura. A specimen 
in the Canterbury Museum measures in its largest diameter about 8 inches by 7 inches. It is com- 
posed chiefly of dry narrow flags or grasses bent in a circular form, the outer wall being strengthened 
with an admixture of fibrous twigs. The cavity, which is rather loosely formed, as compared with 
that of the latter, is roughly lined with sheep’s wool, with a few small feathers intermixed. It con- 
tained two eggs, which differ somewhat from each other, both in form and colour. One of them is 
of a warm salmon-pink, thickly blotched at the larger end, and spotted at irregular intervals on the 
general surface with reddish brown, ovoido-elliptical in form, and measuring T05 inch by '75 inch. 
The other egg is more oval in form, paler in colour, and less marked with reddish brown, the spots 
being much smaller and more scattered over the surface. 
Zoologist, 1885, vol. sliii. p. 422. 
