NATIVE BIRDS 185 
brown. The legs are of medium length and slight and the’ 
toes are adapted for perching. The beak is soft, short and 
broad, the gape stretching nearly to the eyes, a great, 
advantage to a bird living on insects, most of which are 
caught on the wing. 
Fantails are most industrious birds, showing great. 
perseverance and energy in building their nests, which are 
placed near large 
supplies of insects. 
Captain Hutton, in 
The Animals of New 
Zealand, writes on 
the subject as fol- 
lows. “ A bough 
standing from a high 
bank of a shady 
creek is a favourite 
spot. The foundation 
of the nest is laid 
by adroitly securing 
chips of decayed 
wood with lines of 
cobweb to the spray 
selected. This deli- 
cate operation must 
necessarily be a work 
of great difficulty. 
In places where 
splinters of decayed 
Fig, 114.—Nest of Pied Fantail. wood are not obtain- 
able, pieces of coarse 
grass have been used instead. Fine grasses, thread-like 
roots, dead leaves or skeletons of leaves, hair, green tufts 
of moss, and the down of ferns are also brought into 
