114 
white, washed on the aide ! synth fct ; “ute “tertial. margined with white ; inner- 
oLng ’spot of yellowish while on the enter wane ; tad-feathers hlaeh, tipped with 
fulvous. 
y mug , Plumage generally duller and suffused with yellowish brown , marked on the breast with nn„e»us 
small longitudinal spots of brown. 
w TO . _ lmnaB e of A. chloris differs in the male, female, and young. Examples vary 
Obs. As will be seen am, P o . collection (received from the South Island) has the 
in the tone of their colouring and a specimen j V mixture of gree n. I do not believe in 
rec ° gnized as a distinct species by Dr - rinsch * 
The Rifleman is the smallest of our ^“t^iTloaditinTTnd thnmgfoiTtia^^holeTxteiit^of 
r rrri P “": — - - — 
the South Island. It s be 8^ Hutton f ou „d it on the Great Barrier, and was assured 
seldom or never in the low g • B a m i gra tory bird, coming and going with the 
by the native residents of that island u the other islands in the 
Cuckoo! Mr. Reischek met with it also on the Little Lamer, our 
Iiauraki Gulf. w • val i ey i found this bird comparatively 
I„ the hilly pine-forests at the,heri of the ~pa ^ ^ of the general absence 
plentiful in the summer o • ,, s( „ ons of the year. On the outskirts small flocks of Zostereps 
of bird-life m these dark wooc a ■ f Flycatchers and White-heads share the solitude 
consort together in the ^ wood , the stillness becomes oppressive, unbroken 
with the sober Tomt. , , ^ dramming of a locust , and> apar t from the active little Rifleman, 
Xch«“fe4 - »ome under all conditions the only sign of animation is an occasional 
(like the cry of a young bird), accompanied by a constant quivering ot the wings. I have noticed 
hat this cr y becomes louder and more continuous towards evening. It is genera ly to be seen tunning 
UP he bole" of the larger trees, often ascending spirally, prying into every chink and crevice, and 
“ ovine about with such celerity that it is rather difficult for the collector to obtain a shot. Its 
Towers of flight arc very feeble, and it simply uses its wings for short passages from one tree to 
1 Tts tail is extremely short, and is hardly visible when the bird is in motion. 
The stomachs of all that I have opened contained numerous remains of minute Ooleoptera and 
other insects, s^onietirnes mixed jvithfineiyctmiminnte^veg^talde m.ter. ^ ^ 
be decosTinto the open hand by rapidly twirling a leaf, so as to simulate the fluttenng oi a bud, 
accompanied by an ^VTowerTe a brood of three young ones which he had taken 
A bird-collectoi at » &n elevation of 20 feet or more from the ground. Finding 
from a nest m the cavity o ^ ^ ^ he cut into the tree about a foot below it, and thus disclosed 
the aperture too sm ^ b . compose d entirely of fern-hair, about 10 inches in length, and 
the nest, which e •- tube f orm i n g the entrance to it. In the Canterbury Museum 
bottle-shaped wit ong vei appearg to have been torn out of some natural cavity. It is 
pear-shaped, with the entrant on the side and near the bottom, and is very loosely constructed, the 
* Trans. N.-Z. Inst. 1874, vol. vii. p. 227. 
