THE SADDLEBACK 173 
of the woodlands and the Tuis the tops, so the 
Saddleback dwells half-way between the two. He 
never ventures much higher than the tupari-tops ; 
he never climbs high on the ironwoods that attain 
a height of fifty or sixty feet ; he knows that the 
Tuis and Bellbirds are unfriends to him. During 
the breeding season much time also is spent in 
the groves of aspidium and stilbocarp, their cool 
gloom seeming to be as welcome as the tall tuparis’ 
filtered shade. 
The progress of the species is accomplished, as 
already pointed out, by a series of hops, some- 
times so rapid that they blend or melt into what 
appears to be a run. If the bird is in great haste 
the bill is held nearly erect, as is also the curiously 
curved tail. As he then bounds and leaps at speed 
over the uneven ground he bears no small re- 
semblance to a monkey. Wing movements are 
laboured, the birds never flying far, nor do they 
fly directly upwards. They prefer to rise by 
rapid hoppings from bough to higher bough, and 
then to flutter or volplane downwards. The 
wings of the Saddleback are, in fact, used for 
brakes as much as for propulsion through the 
air. 
Ringed in their slithery aprons of shining kelp, 
girt in their ramparts of battered rock, long may 
these islands of the south protect the breed. 
