The Crows 
103 
the hoary filaments of the drooping greybeard moss that decks 
the branches of so many trees in some of the gloomy alpine 
valleys. The long tarsi carry the body well above the damp 
mosses when collecting its food on the ground; its mode of 
progression, by a series of leaps or bounds, may also tend 
to keep its plumage clear of humid plants. When really 
alarmed it leaps with great rapidity, covering a wide space of 
ground with each effort. Like the keropia [thrush] it seeks 
safety amidst the low undergrowth of the forest, 
“The sexes appear to be united in close companionship. We 
have noticed a pair on some favourite fruit-beaiing tree, 
caressing each other with their beaks. A pair kept in confine¬ 
ment lived thus imprisoned for about two years, but when one 
died its mate only survived some few days. 
“In January, 1873, whilst exploring the bush that fringes 
Milford Sound, the writer was so fortunate as to discover five 
nests, at heights varying from ten to seventeen feet above the 
ground. The first specimen we found placed on the extended 
limb of a totara ( Podocarpus ) that overhung a deep, ferny 
gully. The nest had been reared on the remains of an old 
■structure, and the foundation, which was quite two feet across, 
made of sticks and sprays firmly interlaced, smoothly lined 
with leaves of soft grass. From wall to wall outside, the 
measurement was found to be 16 in.; diameter of the cavity 
<8 in., with a depth of 3 5 in. 
“The parent bird allowing a very close approach, was found 
to be covering two nestlings as yet unable to see........ The old 
bird suffered a close examination of its home and its inmates 
without uttering any alarm cry or showing any signs o 
defending its young, thus differing very much fiom the habit 
of the keropia; yet there was not that exhibition of utter help 
lessness which some birds—as for instance hymenolaemus [blue 
duck]—manifest under similar circumstances. 
‘ ‘ Such is a matter of fact description of this interesting fine, 
but it fails altogether to convey the least idea of one s sensa 
lions on sighting an object that had been so long, so fai, anc 
so often hunted for. At last there was the nest, together 
