42 Sydney Porter—Notes on New Zealand Birds


around any available little pool, bathing and making a very thorough

toilet.


These Zosterops, like most other New Zealand birds, are quite

tame and fearless when at liberty.


The nest is a frail but beautiful little cup-shaped structure, and is

fastened to the branches of a small shrub by the edges. Usually there

is little attempt at concealment. Three blue eggs are usually laid, very

much resembling those of a Hedge Sparrow ; the young are hatched,

grow up, and leave the nest in an incredibly short space of time.


This species is found in South Australia and Tasmania.


The Rock Wren (Xenicus gilviventris)


One of my reasons for going into the Southern Alps of New Zealand

was to see and make a study of the Kea and the Rock Wren. My

efforts to make the acquaintance of the latter bird were thwarted,

owing to an attack of bronchitis, when I was in the very regions where

it was found, in fact I could plainly see its habitat as I lay in bed

watching the fleeting shadows of clouds as they darkened the immaculate

white face of Mount Cook. So all my information is second-hand,

obtained from the alpine guides and from a distinguished lady

mountain climber.


These hardy birds inhabit the regions of alpine scrub just below

the snow line between 5,000 and 7,000 feet, and are in fact seldom

seen below that altitude. Around the Aimer Hut at a height of

6,700 feet this bird is plentiful and is exceedingly tame, coming within

a few feet of the traveller and picking up scraps of food thrown to it.

It is a peculiarly built bird, rather resembling a very compact Dipper

with a very short and stumpy tail. It also has the peculiar bobbing

motion of that bird. It is entirely terrestrial, living amongst the

rocks and sparse alpine scrub. How it manages to find enough insect

life to sustain itself in those inhospitable regions is rather a mystery.

In the winter I dare say they feed to a large extent upon insects

which they find in a state of torpor in the crevices of the rocks. That

these birds are extremely hardy goes without saying, or they could not

brave the severe storms which rage in the high Alps in the winter time,

for from information gathered it would seem that the bird never



