66 MONCRIEFF, Birds of West Coast, N.Z. [utSS? 
One clay we made a special trip to visit the nest of a Harrier. 
It was situated on a tussock of grass about 4ft. from the ground 
amongst low scrub, the surroundings being swampy. When dis¬ 
turbed, the hen, loath to leave her nest, gazed angrily at us and 
then rose slowly, revealing her gorgeous chestnut thighs. Flying 
upwards, she rejoined her mate, and circled above the bush-clad 
hills whilst we examined her nest. Five dirty-white eggs with 
their points turned inwards (thus denoting that incubation had 
commenced) lay on 'the tussock of grass, with a couple of 
feathers lying beside them. No attempt had been made to line 
the nest, and it struck us that when the nestlings were hatched 
they would have to remain fairly quiet or they would tumble 
over the edge of the tussock. Withdrawing to a distance, we kept 
the nest under observation. In a few minutes the parent birds 
hove in sight, the hen immediately dropping low enough to peer 
down at her eggs. She, however, did not alight by them, but 
retired to an adjacent tree, her faithful spouse doing likewise. 
After flying backwards and forwards several times, she eventually 
took up her post of observation on a tall tree, where she remained 
watching us closely. Making up her mind suddenly, she swooped 
downward to a position quite close to her nest, finally returning to 
her treasures exactly half an hour after we first disturbed her. 
The cock bird meanwhile remained on sentry duty for some time, 
until, assuming all things were normal, he glided off quietly just 
above the ground, evidently intent on obtaining a meal. 
Sparrowhawks apparently are to be seen in the neighbourhood. 
Not far from Nelson I actually saw this little bird {Nesicrax 
pottsi) attack a native Pigeon and bring it to the ground. Mr. P. 
Graham told us lie had not seen the larger Quail Hawk ( N . novcc- 
hollanditu) on the West Coast, though they were to be seen at 
Mount Cook. The size of these two Hawks is different, the Quail 
Hawk being the larger, and also the feathers on the thighs com¬ 
ing very much further down the leg, much like the difference 
between the Golden and White-tailed Eagles of Great Britain. 
The Bellbirds at the Franz Josef Glacier emitted their famous 
bell note, which we had not heard before, also a very little 
roundelay much like a Scotch reel, which they repeated frequently. 
We only once heard the notes we had noticed at the Buller Gorge, 
and then they were only three notes, all equal, going C.B.C. 
Also they were uttered rather vaguely instead of the emphatic 
way we had heard before. 
Tuis were extremely numerous, one heard the swish of their 
wings everywhere, and saw them gaily hawking after fiies or 
singing in the intervals between inspection of the rata blossom. 
At night, when going out to see the glow-worms on the road¬ 
side, we heard the Moreporks (Ninox novce-zealanduc) calling 
to each other. Just before dawn, in addition to their mournful 
note, the rxmgtailed Cuckoo ( Urodynamis taiiensis ) whistled, and 
solitary Bellbirds joined in. Occasionally when traversing the 
