Vol 'i 924 IV ’] WILKINSON, Birds of Tararuas, N Z. 
123 
There are thousands of acres of this class of country on the 
Tararuas, especially on the western side, so that these little birds 
have plenty of cover and feeding ground. Another favourite 
place for them is the openings in the bush made by the rivers. 
On some of. the mountain streams there are small flats, and 
trees, uprooted by floods, are being washed down continually. 
They often lodge on the riverbeds, which as a rule are wider 
on these flats. In time this process forms an island, and as it 
gets larger, it forces the river out on both sides, making a con¬ 
siderable opening in the bush. In these localities one may see 
quite a number of Tomtits. 
Mr. Stidolph and myself found a nest in just such a place 
as I have tried to describe. It was placed on a ledge in the 
river bank that had been scoured out by a flood. The nest, 
which contained two young birds, was just 3 ft. 8 in. above the 
swiftly running water and eight inches from the top of the bank 
which overhung the ledge. 
It would have been interesting to watch the young birds mak¬ 
ing their first flight. The river was about a chain wide at this 
particular place, and it being impossible for them to get on to 
the bank unless assisted by the parents their first flight would 
be a considerable one. The l young Tits were coloured like the 
adult female. Some calamity must have overtaken this happy 
family, however, because when my friend was passing along 
that way some weeks later he inspected the spot, and was sur¬ 
prised to find the wing of one of the young birds in the nest, 
which otherwise was not in any way disturbed. 
Rhipidura flabellif era. Pied or Grey Fantail.—This charming 
little bird may justly be deemed the bushman’s friend, as it 
is always in evidence. They seem to like the isolated patches 
of bush near the rivers and creeks on the plains better than the 
mountains. About April they generally come down about the 
plains often invading houses and sheds after flies. They build 
the neatest nest of any of our native birds, and nearly always 
build near water. They are very fond of building on a branch 
of the rangiora ( Br achy glottis repanda), a tree with large leaves. 
The nest is placed in such a position that, at a distance, it looks 
like a leaf. I have often hunted for the nest in a clump of these 
trees for quite a time before I succeeded in discovering it. The 
Coprosma is another tree much to their liking, but when built in 
this tree the nest is not hard to find. 
In the last week of January this year I had the pleasure of 
watching a family of Fantails being fed in a patch of bush close 
to my home. There were three young ones perched on a branch, 
and the old birds fed them one after the other. I watched them 
for about an hour, and during that time I never saw one fed 
out of its turn. 
Rhipidura fuliginosa. Black Fantail.—Mr. Stidolph saw one 
of these birds in the bush close to the track that leads to the 
top of Mt. Holdsworth from Masterton. I was very much sur¬ 
prised to hear of its being seen so far north as this. Had any 
