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XV. 
THE SADDLEBACK. 
THE Saddleback does not seem to reach maturity 
on Kotiwhenu until its second season. In the 
vicinity of our camp during early November 
three generations were to be found, each distinct 
from the other—the breeding birds, the yearlings, 
the chicks still in the shell. 
Mature specimens of each sex were of an in- 
tense shining black about head and neck. Across 
the back stretched the remarkable band of reddish- 
chestnut—a new unused saddle on a black horse— 
from which the species derives its apposite popular 
appellation. On either side of the bill drop long 
slender caruncles, those curious sexual ornaments 
of the breed. Though in the female little developed, 
in the male they become prominent during the 
breeding season. They glow with especial bril- 
liancy when the bird is paying his court or in rapid 
motion; they glance then, and gleam like drops 
of translucent carmine, like gems in a girl’s ears. 
