384 
Letters , Extracts, and Notes. 
colour, is marked with symmetrically arranged black spots— 
five on the palate, two on the tongue, and one under the 
tongue. The whole arrangement seems to serve the purpose 
of making the open mouth conspicuous. 
I am. Sirs, yours &c., 
Kribi, Kamerun, Geo. L. Bates. 
October 11th, 1908. 
Sirs, — I wish to bring to your notice three notes on oui 
New Zealand birds, which are, I think, worthy of record:— 
(1) In the Trans. N.Z. Inst. (vol. xxxvi. p. 119) is a 
reference to parasitic Cuckoos occasionally reverting to the 
habit of nest-building. I have just had a most authentic 
account of the feeding by two adults of five little Bronze 
Cuckoos (Chalcococcyx lucidus), the gradual teaching to fly, 
and, finally, the discovery of a nest with the feathers of the 
adult birds in and about it. 
This conduct by a bird so universally considered strictly 
parasitic is extremely interesting, and if you will refer to the 
Trans. Austr. Assoc, for the Adv. of Sci. (vol. x. p. 323) 
you will find reference to similar habits of Cuckoos in India. 
This is another step towards the elucidation of the strange 
habit of parasitism. 
(2) In vol. xl. of Trans. N.Z. Inst, now to hand you 
will find (p. 498) a most remarkable instance of sagacity or 
instinct in a pair of Paradise-Ducks ( Casarca variegata). 
They were surprised in the bush and instantly took to the 
water with ten little ones. Entering the rushing swollen 
torrent they sailed out diagonally, one with its beak to the 
other’s tail, and all the little ones settled against and above 
them as they battled across the stream. 
(3) The Dotterel of New Zealand ( Charadrius bicinctus ) is 
a clever deceiver and performs many curious antics to lead 
an intruder from its nest. A reliable observer says :—“ On 
starting a Dotterel out of her nest, her antics were 
of the usual kind, fluttering away in front of me, as though 
with a broken wing. Suddenly I saw her drop alongside of a 
