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two broad, equidistant bars ; the lower part of the abdomen pure white ; quills dark brown, glossed with 
coppery brown, changing to bright golden green on the secondaries; with the exception of the three outer 
primaries, all the quills are yellowish white in the basal portion of the inner wehs, forming a broad oblique 
bar on the under face of the wing ; under wing-coverts and axillary plumes indistinctly barred with coppery 
brown ; tail, when closed, bronzy green, with a broad subterminal band of purplish brown ; upper tail- 
coverts bright golden green, the lateral ones largely marked with white on their outer webs. On spreading 
the tail the outermost feather on each side is found to be blackish brown, with live broad white bai’s on the 
inner web, the fifth one being terminal, and with five irregular spots of white on the basal portion of the 
outer web ; the next feather blackish brown, slightly glossed with green, marked on the inner web with two 
obscure spots of rufous, darker brown towards the tip, and terminated by a round spot of white ; the 
succeeding one similar, but without the rufous markings, and with the terminal spot on the inner web much 
smaller ; and the median feathers coppery brown, glossed with green, and crossed by a darker subterminal 
bar. Irides and bill black ; tarsi and toes brownish black ; soles of feet yellowish. Total length 7 inches ; 
extent of wings 1 1*75 ; wing, from flexure, 4; tail 2*75 ; bill, along the ridge "5, along the edge of lower 
mandible *75 ; tarsus *5 ; longer fore toe and claw *8, longer hind toe and claw *65. 
Young. Metallic tints of the upper parts duller ; upper wing-coverts edged with brown ; tail-feathers as in the 
adult, but with the rufous markings obsolete ; throat and fore part of neck yellowish white, clouded and 
mottled with dusky brown, faintly glossed with green ; underparts generally yellowish white, marked on the 
sides and flanks with fragmentary or interrupted bands of dull shining green ; the under tail-coverts crossed 
by broad triangular spots of the same. 
There is nothing more delightful, on a sultry summer’s day, than to recline in some cool shade and 
inhale the sweet fragrance of the native woods. All is still and quiet save the hum of bees in the 
air and the loud drumming of the tarakihi as it clings to the bark overhead. Then there falls upon 
the ear the well-known cry of the Koheperoa — not the vociferous scream of the early morning, but a 
low sleepy cry — issuing from some lofty tree-top where the bird is resting during the heat of the day. 
From a neighbouring tree comes the full rich note of the Tui, uttered at short intervals like the slow 
tolling of a silver bell ; then the low whistle of a Kaka calling to its mate to come and seek repose 
while the sun is at the meridian ; then all is still again, and nothing is heard but the soft murmur 
of insects in the air and the languid cry of a solitary Fan tail as it flits around with full-spread wings 
and tail, dancing from side to side, or the sweet trill of the Ngirungiru, full of pleasant associations. 
But while we are still listening, a new sound arrests the attention — a peculiar whistling cry, different 
from that of any other bird. This announces the arrival in our country of the Shining Cuckoo, an 
inhabitant of Australia, and probably New Guinea *, which appears in New Zealand (also in Norfolk 
Island) only as a summer migrant. Its cry is always welcomed by the colonists as the harbinger 
of spring ; and during its short stay with us its sweet but plaintive notes may be heard in every 
grove throughout the long summer days. It makes its appearance, year after year, with surprising 
punctuality, arriving first in the extreme north, and about a fortnight later spreading all over the 
country. A correspondent informs me that for three successive years, at Whangarei (north of Auck- 
land), he first heard its familiar note on the 21st September, and that on one occasion he noticed 
it as early as the 3rd of that month. Another correspondent, in the same locality, informs me, as the 
result of twelve years’ careful observation, that this migrant invariably appears between the 17th 
and 21st of September. For a period of ten years I kept a register of its periodical arrival at 
Wellington, and noted its regular occurrence between the 5th and 10th of October. Mr. Potts 
writes to me from Canterbury that it generally arrives there on or about the 8th of October, 
although in one year (1855) it visited that part of the country as early as the 27th September. It 
usually departs about the first or second week in January : but in the far north it sometimes lingers 
* Of. Kamsay, Proc. Linn. Soc. 17. S. W. vol. iii. p. 256. 
