Sydney Porter—Notes on New Zealand Birds



439



than the others, the second much less advanced, and the third was

a very young bird though feathered. Then followed a difficult time ;

the wind was cold and next came a very wet day, and I had to be

always on the watch, putting the younger babes back in the nest for

warmth. The parents were wonderful in feeding, and up to the twenty-

second day, when I had to leave them, the whole family slept in the

nest, though not in the original one, because the cock had pretty w^ell

torn that to pieces. “ Benjy ” (as the tiny one was at once called !)

found just above their abode an old Buficauda nest, which, by the

way, is of rather a different type—the Fire-finch nest seemed to be

much deeper and was very cleverly arranged, so that they had a sort

of sloping path down. “ Benjy ” was really an expert at hiding, and

I have spent nearly an hour searching for him in the aviary, and had

to go away convinced that he had really vanished, only to find him

an hour or two later seated near to his nest mates.


The young are very like the adult hen in plumage, no spots on the

side, and the beak shows a good deal more white, and mine at twenty-

two days were smaller than the parents. They could fly well and could

find their way into the aviary from the long run, and back into the

adopted nest.


PS. All are well at the time of going to press.—20th November.



NOTES ON NEW ZEALAND BIRDS


By Sydney Porter


(Continued from page 412)


The Stitch-bird (Notiomystis cincta)


One of my chief reasons for visiting the Little Barrier Island was

to try to obtain a glimpse of one of the rarest of all existing birds,

namely the Stitch-bird, in the deep recesses of its forest home, the

last resort of this much-persecuted species.


One of New Zealand’s endemic honey-eaters, it disappeared from

the mainland about the middle of the last century. At one time,

long before the coming of the white man, it must have been com¬

paratively common in some portions of the North Island for its



