130 
his prolonged shrill note (quite distinct from all other sounds of the forest, and very pleasant to hear) 
till about noon, when he remains perfectly silent for two hours or more. As soon, however as the 
held of the day is over, he resumes his cry, and shortly afterwards leaves his retreat to hunt for 
f00d if “not unusual to hear a pair of these birds answering each other for hours together from the 
tops of neighbouring trees. Indeed, I have observed that it is habitually stationary for it may 
often be hefrd uttering its long, plaintive scream for a whole day in the same tree but always qufte 
“ut of View. During the quiet nights of December its piercing cry may be heard at intervals till 
“ e ° k of day, varied only in the earlier watches by the solemn hooting of the Morepork. 
This species is more predatory in its habits than is usual with the members of this group. 
Lizards and large insects form its principal diet; but it also plunders the nests of other birds, 
d sour „g alike the eggs and young. From the stomach of one which I sho ,n December 185 , 
“bird ha" found their remains in abundance in the stomachs of specimens I have 
^tstlreadv stated it is accustomed to rob the nests of other birds; and whether from this or 
* , . ‘ 7 • an ob : ect of constant persecution to the Tui or Parson bird. Ihe instant one 
some ot er cause, commences its pursuit, chasing it from tree to tree, and fairly 
of these birds shows ftselU he “ ly se(J „ P threc or four of these persecutors at one time 
following the unfortunate Cuckoo, with loud cries of intimidation, and, finally, compelling it to take 
ref " i *£££?££%*■ ‘u^ir^getemUyTet with singly or in pairs, but Captain Mair gives the 
following interesting particulars of a summer flight Passing down the Hurukareao river, in the 
Urewenf country, during the intensely hot weather of February 1872, 1 was astonished at the 
number of Koheperoa that coursed about overhead. During t(ie three days that we were making 
the passage I saw some hundreds of them, swarming about in the air like large cragon- les, as man 
' h '“ o thirty of them being sometimes associated together. The loud clamour of their notes 
wme length quite oppressive There was much dead timber on the banks of the river, and 
it appeared me th/the birds were feasting on the large brown cicada. This is the only 
occasion on which I have observed this bird consorring^ it were m parties mentioned 
Vm-v little is at present known of the breeding-habits ol this spec . 
l it is narasitical • but to what extent is not yet fully determined. J he theory pu oiwait n 
above, it is P«asit> > &nns itsdf the duty of incubation, and then abandons its young to 
my former edition wa ? ; . ts the charge and caters untiringly for its support. In 
tlM Grey Warbler, J, a bird of t ° he size and form of the Long-tailed Cuckoo 
the fast place it is diffi ^ q( ^ last . uamed species . and even supposing that it did, 
could deposit its eg s 1 possibility for so small a creature to hatch it; and, again, even 
,t would seem ; almos a physmal P ^ ^ ^ tenement of a suspensi „ n nest could support 
were this feasible, it is diffi a l„,v„ all this, there was the signiflcant 
the daily increasing weight ot the joun e tmwv 
, , ., , r Giev Warbler which he found depending from a manuka bush close to the 
* Mr. Justice Gillies thus descn es a nc * islands (it was on the 7th October, and the nest contained four eggs) 
roadside, and about five feet from the ground at t e y ( diameter at its widest part. The side aperture 
“ K ^ of the shape of a soda-water bottle, erght ^ ^length ^ Qn0 and a half inclles across by about one inch 
is fully one-third way down from the twig on which it hun D , ana 
