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birds stole, among other movable property from a surveyor’s tent, a valuable little aneroid, which 
was hopelessly lost. Smoking-caps, slippers, and other bright-coloured objects of the kind, if within 
reach, are equally insecure when this mischievous marauder is about. 
It is more diurnal in its habits than 0. greyi, and may often be seen in the broad sunshine 
feeding about among the tussock-grass and stunted vegetation in the localities it inhabits. It is very 
pugnacious in character, rival males fighting freely when they meet, each bird spreading forward first 
one wing and then another, to present a better front to the adversary, and to receive the aimless 
thrust of his beak in a shield of pliant feathers. It has the same shrill whistling cry as the former 
species, uttered by a pair in concert or responsively ; and on a near approach a loud drumming note 
may be distinguished as a prelude to the cry. Its food consists of lizards, mice, insects of every 
sort, certain berries when in season, eggs of all kinds, and the otfal round about the stations. AVhen 
it visits the farmyard it proves very destructive to the chickens, and has even been known to attack 
and kill a Spanish pullet, six weeks old. 
Mr. W. W. Smith writes to me: — “ In your first edition you mention the circumstance of very 
large birds having sometimes been met with in the hills. I was lately among the ranges in the 
Ngapara district and discovered a huge pair. As they were quite isolated in a bleak spot, I was 
puzzled for a time to know what they fed on. After searching for some time I found some large 
worm-castings of the Lumbricus uliginosus, Hutton. This species measures 12 and 14 inches in 
length, and is of sluggish habits. As both worms and Wekas are of nocturnal habits, the latter will 
have no trouble in seizing the worms and dragging them from their burrows. They are superior food 
to any other the Woodhen could obtain. These worms, 1 may observe, are limited in their distribu- 
tion; but where they do exist they are found in considerable numbers. I have no doubt that the 
excessive size and fatness of the birds I have mentioned may be accounted for by the abundance of 
this particular food.” 
The breeding-habits of this species are in no respect different from those of the North-Island 
Woodhen ; but the eggs, which are from five to seven in number, are more richly coloured. There 
is a fine series of these in the Canterbury Museum, all of which were collected between the 20th of 
October and 25th of November. Ordinary examples measure 2-4 inches in length by 1-6 in breadth, 
and are white, sometimes with a yellowish tinge, marked over the entire surface, but particularly at 
tbe larger end, with irregular spots and blotches of jiale reddish brown, among which are spots of 
purplish grey having the appearance of markings under the surface. In some specimens the reddish- 
brown spots are very rounded and distinct ; in others they are splashed or smudgy ; and one specimen 
has a broad irregular blotch of purplish brown near the thicker end. 
A nest of this bird (in the Canterbury Museum) from Ohinitahi is a massive bed of dry grass, 
measuring 20 inches by 14, with a uniform thickness of about 41 inches. In the centre there is a 
slight depression, which contains five eggs. These are yellowish-white, irregularly spotted and marked 
with yellowish-brown and pale washed-out markings of purple. In form they are slightly ovoido- 
conical, measuring 2'25 inches by T6, and presenting very little variety in colour, the spotted 
markings being generally thickest at the larger end. Mr. Enys states that the ground-colour varies 
in specimens from different localities, from a pure white to a rich cream-colour. I have observed 
that they are often much soiled, probably from contact with the bird’s feet during incubation. 
My son s collection contains upwards of twenty specimens exhibiting a considerable amount of 
individual variation, some of them being very richly marked with reddish brown, particularly at the 
larger end, others having widely scattered round spots over the entire surface (like the e^^r of ^Rallus 
phili])])ensis), while others, again, have the larger pole washed with reddish brown, irregularly blotched 
and spotted with purplish brown, diminishing in the middle circumference, and disappearing entirely 
towards the smaller end, where the shell is creamy white. ^ 
