94 Bird-Song : and New Zealand Song Birds 
in number; and the cloud formed by the crowded birds 
appeared and disappeared according as they presented an 
edge or full body. The unanimity of movement must have 
been perfect to cause the rhythmical melting and reappearing 
of the cloud. The birds gather from many quarters on the 
mainland, and every evening fly in thousands to Toko, passing 
the night there and leaving again, flock by flock, in the morning 
This they do, too, though in lesser numbers, during the 
breeding season. A similar habit is observed in Britain, where 
thousands of birds repair to some common nightly haunt but 
I have seen no note of such haunt being divided by the sea from 
their daily resort. Toko is over two miles from the mainland 
and is uninhabited, and unoccupied. There is another night- 
haunt on the mainland about four miles from the islet, in a 
plantation of blue-gums close to Paraparaumu, and between 
it and the sea; and at sunset there is a great clamour of twit¬ 
tering before the birds settle down for the night. Some have 
suggested that these birds do not remain in this place for the 
night, but are noisily congregating before the flight across to 
the islet; but I have not learned definitely if this is so or not. 
Two or three years after this observation the starlings ceased 
their flights to Toko; for what reason is not known. 
The New Zealand members of this family are :— 
Heteralocha acutirostris huia 
Creadion carunculatus the saddle-back tieke 
The huia. —Greenish-black, with a band of white at the end 
of the tail. Bill white; wattles orange. Eye dark brown. 
The birds were unique in the bills of the two sexes differing 
markedly;—that of the male, 2\ in. along the ridge, being stout, 
and comparatively straight, that of the female, 4 inches, slender 
and down-curved. In feeding, the male chiselled the affected 
wood for grubs, the female probed for them. Total length, 
18| in., of which the tail is in. 
Eggs. —Greyish-white, with a few spots of purple and brown. 
Length, a little over If in. 
