50 BIRD LIFE ON ISLAND AND SHORE 
with oaths and solemn vows, sworn it was the 
best in the whole forest, and imploringly apolo- 
gised for its immaturity? As a matter of fact, 
that was the only act of courtship witnessed, 
whatever endearments may have passed in the 
thickets. Once only also did I see anything carried 
to a sitting hen—the solitary morsel appearing to 
be a small grub of some sort. Stitchbirds live, in 
fact, almost entirely on nectar. The hen whilst 
sitting is probably fed on it alone, either leaving 
the nest or being called off the nest at about 
hourly intervals for that purpose. The nestlings 
were reared on the same ethereal food; the male 
himself almost exclusively lived on it, the only 
solid food—if indeed it could be termed solid— 
that passed his bill being “cuckoo spit,” the 
frothy excretion concealing a small insect, thick 
at Tutira and elsewhere in certain seasons on the 
leaves of the rangiora, and on Little Barrier on 
the leaves of other shrubs. Both insect and 
spittle were devoured—the original inducement to 
taste this unpleasant -looking creature perhaps 
being lack of moisture on the heights of the riven 
island. 
A yet unsolved problem of Little Barrier is that 
of certain birds seen on three occasions by me in 
October—on two of these occasions, moreover, 
watched in the open within a few feet. In the 
little clearing I had made they were as close to 
