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Sydney Porter—Notes on New Zealand Birds



The Black Fantail (Rhipidura fuliginosa)


It is a strange thing that most species of New Zealand birds

have two forms, one inhabiting the North Island and the other

the South Island. Often the South Island species is the brighter

of the two as is the case of the two preceding species, but it is

not so in this case for this strange gnome-like little bird appears

to be a uniform black from a distance.


I wish that I could convey to the reader, the strange and

rather eerie impression one gets of these dusky, fairy-like little

creatures as they, I was going to say, fly, through the forest, but

they do not appear to do that. They seem to float noiselessly about

in the gloom of the forests like some strange wraith. They are

not a bit bird-like and seem to be the goblins and fairies of one’s

childhood days, at last come to life. Their aerial evolutions are

always most fascinating to watch; their movements are quite

effortless. They seem like some huge piece of down blown here

and there by every eddying breath of wind, twisting, turning,

falling and rising with a grace and airiness unknown to any

other bird, the large fan-like tail opening and shutting all the

while. It seems as though the force of gravity had no effect on

the Fantail.


Never for a second still, most of the Fantail’s life is spent

in the air in pursuit of minute insects, often invisible to the

naked eye. One always knows when he has had a catch by the

faint click of the tiny beak as it closes on its prey.


I did not find the Black Fantail nearly as numerous as the

Pied. It consorts with its more strikingly coloured relation and

is said to interbreed with it, the young being either pied or black,

there being no intermediate type. It is also stated that a pair

of Black Fantaiis will have pied offspring, which rather goes to

prove that the black species is merely rather a common “ sport ”

or mutant of the pied bird.


The Fantaiis appear to be all feathers. I never handled one,

but I believe the body is very minute, much smaller than that of

the Gold-crested Wren. Even the trim little Zosterops appear

large when compared to these delicate little mites. Like many



