402 
NATURAL HISTORY. 
a fortnight to hatch. The unfledged bird is called a pi, after¬ 
wards it is named a pikari, and when fledged a purehe. But, 
full-grown, it is a tui, and when it becomes very fat, it is a 
koko. The flesh of this bird is highly esteemed as a very great 
dainty, and it certainly is so; but its lively song is far sweeter 
to those who admire melody, and such will regret that this 
will not save it from the Maori oven. 
The kotihe (ptilotis cincta ). This beautiful honey-bird has 
a velvety black head and wings, with a tuft of white feathers 
on either cheek and wing; it has a bright yellow circle round 
the lower part of the neck and wings. The back and tail are 
of a yellowish grey. It is about the size of the bullfinch. 
The male is much larger than the female, which has not so 
fine a plumage. Its legs are strong, and its tail slightly 
forked. It lays four eggs. The notes are pleasing, but few, 
which, when it has sung, it hops away to another bush. 
The korimako, or kokorimako (anthornis melanura ). This 
bird is the sweetest songster of New Zealand, but is not dis¬ 
tinguished by its plumage, which is of a yellowish olive, with 
a dark blueish shade on each side of the head ; the rest of the 
body being of a dingy yellow-greenish color; it has a long 
forked tail, and strong wings ; the legs are of a puce color. 
It lays seven eggs, spotted with blue, upon a brown ground. 
The male is larger, and its plumage is rather brighter, with 
more green in it than the female. In the early dawn, when 
the vocal songsters of the grove assemble by mutual consent 
on some tree, to sing their morning hymn, the note of the 
korimako is heard above all the rest, and gives the greatest 
harmony to the whole ; indeed, nothing can exceed the sweet¬ 
ness of this concert, which is only heard for a short time, and 
then ceases for the rest of the day, until the birds begin to 
koro, or intimate the day has closed, and then in some parts 
of the south they again assemble to sing their evening hymn ; 
but this is not generally done, the favourite time is the morn¬ 
ing. I have counted sixteen birds of different kinds thus 
perched together on one branch, in the greatest harmony. It 
is also called kopara. To this genus belongs the anthornis 
melanocephala of the Chatham Isles. 
