Ornithology of New Zealand. 115 
Anthornjs melanura. 
The extensive wooded district lying between Wangarei and 
the North Cape is not inhabited by Maoris at all; and Captain 
Hutton's argument therefore fails. Dr. Hector, who made a 
geological survey of this district in 1868, did not meet with 
a single Anthornis , whereas formerly these birds existed there 
in thousands. As Captain Hutton has ee never observed any 
bright-coloured feathers," he cannot, I think, have collected 
many nests. The observations recorded by Mr. Potts (Trans. 
N. Z. Inst. 1869, ii. p. 56) fully accord with my own. 
Orthonyx albicilla. 
I cannot concur in the opinion expressed by Captain Hut¬ 
ton; for the two birds certainly belong to the same genus. I 
confess, however, that the form is somewhat aberrant from the 
typical Orthonyx. 
As to resemblances of song, that is purely a matter of fancy 
and association. I have never considered the song of our 
Wood-llobin ( Miro longipes) in the least degree like that of 
the Canary. 
CeRTHIPARUS NOViE-ZEALANDIiE. 
I cannot accept Captain Hutton's identification of the sup¬ 
posed eggs of this bird in the Otago Museum without further 
proof. I have already pointed out (E. of N. Z. p. 105) that 
he had confounded this species with the very common Or¬ 
thonyx albicilla of the North Island. He has since repeated 
the error in his f Catalogue' by stating (p. 11) that Certhi- 
parus novae-zealandice inhabits “ both islands." 
Gerygone flaviventris. 
The fact that this species uses spiders' nests in the con¬ 
struction of its own nest was first mentioned by me in 1870 
(Trans. N. Z. Inst. vol. iii. p. 42), and was contradicted by 
Captain Hutton, in his usual emphatic manner, in the critical 
notes appended to his f Catalogue.'' There is nothing unac¬ 
countable, as it seems to me, in the use of the green-coloured 
nest of Epeira verrucosa , and the rejection of the orange- 
coloured nest of E. antipodiana. It is easily explained on the 
principle of assimilative or protective colouring. 
