The White-head 
69 
da. Stiti, Stiti, intermixed with the double call, Fink, fink. 
Tzitzeer .even old ones evince a readiness to adopt the songs, 
and especially the call notes, of other birds.’ 7 It may be that 
the song differs in the two countries, as a song will often differ 
in two localities; but there is still a remarkable difference in 
the estimation of various writers of the song of any particular 
bird. As against these comparatively songless birds, New 
Zealand has three representatives of this family that are 
vigorous songsters;—the white-head, confined to the North 
Island; the bush canary, its South Island representative, and 
confined to that island; and the brown creeper, also confined 
to the South Island:— 
Certkiparus albicapillus the white-head upokotea 01 pokotea 
Mohua ochrocephala the bush-canary mohua 
Finschia novae-zealandiae the brown creeper pipipi or toitoi 
The white-head.— Head, breast, and abdomen, brownish- 
white. Back and tail, brown. Wing-feathers, dark brown. 
Eye, black. In the young the head and lower surface are 
greyish-white. Bill, black; feet, bluish-black, total length, 
in., of which the tail is 2f in. (BII, Vol. 1, p. 54) . The female 
is similar but smaller. 
Eggs .—Three or four; creamy white, minutely speckled or 
marbled over the whole surface with reddish brown, the 
markings being denser towards the thick end, where they 
sometimes form an irregular zone. Length, four-fifths of an 
inch; breadth a little over half an inch. 
Nest .—Usually built in a low shrubby tree, and is round, 
compact, and well constructed, being composed of soft 
materials such as moss, dry leaves, spiders nests, shreds of 
flax, and sometimes wool, all firmly knit together. The depres¬ 
sion is deep and formed of dry bents and vegetable fibies, and 
thickly lined with soft feathers. 
The bird was for a time in danger of extermination; even m 
1887 there were few places on the mainland where it survived. 
Buffer (Tr. Vol. 24, 1892, p. 76), whilst on an expedition 
searching for the huia, states that whilst no liuia was found, 
