126 
WILKINSON, Birds of Tararuas, N.Z. 
and just under 3 inches in depth. The nest had not been sat in, the 
birds having deserted it for some reason best known to 
themselves. 
Of four nests that I have known on the Plains, three were 
in the Solway Showgrounds, out of which only one lot of young 
birds was reared. One of the other nests when found had three 
lovely pink eggs, and was situated in a Monterey Pine ( Firms 
insignis), twelve feet from the ground. Unfortunately the nest 
was found by someone else, for when we went over to take a 
photo., the eggs were gone. The third nest was deserted without 
being made use of. The fourth was found by Mr. Stidolph in a 
Titoki tree ( Alectryon excelsum) , twenty-five feet from the 
ground, and contained three young birds just ready to fly. We 
climbed the tree and exposed two plates, which, when developed, 
were found to be hopelessly under exposed, and consequently 
useless. 
The Tui has, I think, increased in numbers about this locality 
during the last few years. 
The passing of the Animals Protection Act 1922 no doubt in 
the more settled districts, at all events, has been a great blessing 
to our native birds, of which the bird under notice is to the 
older hands one of the most interesting. 
Anthornis melamira. Bellbird.—This, like the Whitehead, is 
one of our birds that has returned to districts where a few 
years ago it was unknown. Formerly it was one of the most 
common birds on the Tararuas, and then gradually disappeared, 
to return within the last year or so. I have roamed about the 
ranges for years, and up till two years ago never heard or saw 
a Bellbird there. 
On Mount Holdsworth in the first week of January, this year, 
we were delighted to hear the daylight chorus of this famous 
bird. We had just arrived at the edge of the bush on the snow¬ 
line at daylight when the birds started. There must have been 
dozens of them, chiming their beautiful notes. The Bellbird is 
pretty well distributed over the ranges now, and will no doubt 
make its way down on to the Plains in time. I have not found 
the nest of the Bellbird on the Tararuas, but found plenty of 
them when, as a boy, I roamed the hills in the Nelson district. 
Acanthidositta chloris. Bush-Wren or Rifleman.—The small¬ 
est of our native birds, and on this side of the Tararuas one of 
the commonest, though it is often overlooked by trampers who 
are not bird observers. We found a nest of this little bird in 
the Tauherenikau Valley in November, 1923. We were walking 
down the river, and on a little flat we noticed a pair of these 
birds flying to and fro between a clump of trees and the main 
bush. After watching for some time we saw one of the birds 
fly to a root of a tree that had been washed down the river, and 
lodged on the bank. We looked closely, and at last found the 
nest in a very small opening 1 A inches high and an inch wide. 
The birds were feeding young, and were very excited while we 
