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exceedingly fat — so much so as very much to embarrass the operations of the taxidermist, who finds 
it almost impossible to keep the feathers free from the oily matter that exudes under the operator’s 
knife. But I am unable to endorse the statement made by the reverend author of ‘ New Zealand and 
its Inhabitants ’ (probably on the authority of a native), that on these occasions the Tui relieves itself 
of its exuberant fat by pecking its breast ! 
The Tui is still very plentiful over both Islands. It has apparently been driven away from some 
districts where formerly it was abundant ; but this is hardly to be wondered at when I state that (in 
spite of the wise protective legislation) I was assured by a dealer in Wellington that he had sent as 
many as five hundred skins to London for the ornamentation of ladies’ hats ! 
It is easily approached and shot ; but I have often remarked its extreme tenacity of life, 
reminding one of Mr. Gosse’s charming account of Conurus flaviventer in his ‘ Birds of Jamaica.’ 
Sometimes, when mortally wounded, the grasp of the feet by which the bird was clinging to the 
twigs or vines becomes convulsively tightened, and the falling body is seen suspended, head downward, 
for several minutes, the wings now and then giving an ineffectual flutter, till at last one foot relaxes 
its hold and then the other, and the quivering body falls heavily to the ground. 
There can be little doubt that the Tui breeds twice in the year. I have found birds nesting as 
early as August, the young being abroad in October and November ; and I have received from the 
Maoris nestlings, not more than ten days old, as late as May 12th, although young birds can always 
be obtained in March and April. 
Under the head of “ progress towards maturity,” I have described (at page 95), from personal 
observation, the successive development of plumage in a young bird, taken from the nest in November, 
and presenting an adult appearance at the end of February. As late as the 23rd October, I saw a 
young bird at Atiamuri, on the Waikato river, in which this change had scarcely been completed, 
much of the body-plumage being adolescent, with only vestiges of the frill and lappets. This fact 
tends strongly to support the view of there being two broods in the year. 
The nest of this species is usually placed in the fork of a bushy shrub, only a few feet from the 
ground ; but I have also found it at a considerable elevation, hidden among the leafy top of a forest tree. 
It is a rather large structure, composed chiefly of sprays or dry twigs, intermixed with coarse green 
moss, the cavity being lined with fibrous grasses, very carefully bent and adjusted. Sometimes the 
inteiior is composed of the black hair-like substance from the young shoots of the tree-fern, the cavity 
being sparingly lined with dry bents. One which I examined at Rangitikei was composed almost 
entirely of dry Leptospermum twigs, with a little green moss intermixed, the ends of the twigs pro- 
jecting moie or less, so that the exterior of the nest measured nearly 12 inches across; the twigs 
were largest at the foundation and got smaller upwards ; the cavity was large, but somewhat shallow 
oi saucei -shaped, and the inteiioi thickly lined with brown fern-hair, with a few long grass-leaves 
carefully interlaced ; thus giving the nest a neatly finished appearance. 
The eggs are generally three or four in number and present some variety both in form and 
colour. I here are some good examples in the Nelson Museum: the eggs (numbering three) in one 
of the nests are of a pyriform character, being blunt and rounded at the large end and tapering 
upwards to a point, measuring 1'3 inch in length by - 75 in their widest part; they are white, with 
a faint rosy blush, stained and mottled at the larger end and lightly freckled or dusted all over with 
pale reddish brown. I hose contained in another nest (also numbering three) are ovoido-conical, 
measuring 1 ‘ 0 5 in length by '75 ; these are of a delicate rosy tint, obscurely freckled, darker and 
more or less speckled with brown at the large end. A third nest contains two almost pure white 
eggs, intermediate in form between those described above, stained and freckled, at the larger end 
only, with brick-red. There is likewise an interesting series of these eggs in the Canterbury Museum, 
varying in character from the true ovato-pyriform to a fusiform outline, something like a skittle-head. 
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