The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1897-10-05

sound, 1t is the mocker, or, as he is
sometimes called, the Maori beltbird,
sitting in some, shady depth OF the
forest during the heat of the day, When
all sounds and songs seemed hushed,
and, in the deep quiet, ringing his
solitary bell.
Whatever he may be in the early
morning hours, at midday he Is alto
gether a different bird; a gay, giddy
thing at sunrise, full OF bright impulses,
dlspelling the melancholy Of gloomy
Sorges; but at noon quaint, monosylla-
bic campanero whose campanology is
confined to the artistic knowledge or
how to strike one, and strike it well;
for While the tut can ring eight, nine
and even ten o'clock, the mocker sup
presses all this quantity to produce the
beautiful quality of his monotone. The
mocker too, can break boughs in inlita-
ton Of the tut, though, after all, it must
be condemned as a very weak perform
ance, and his parody concludes with
the mere swapping of a twig. He as
pires, on the whole, in his lighter moods
to be a pocket edition of the tut, but
his little throat will not stretch to the
deep gutturals nor the gurgling con-
tralto while his rendering of crashing
branches sounds more like the eXpecto-
ration of vulgar street boy than any
thing else.
The New Zealand canary deserves
only to be named and described for the
purpose of scientific and complete ex-
termination. 1t is the bette noir of
picnic parties. and puts an end to many
a post-prandlal nap or quiet read.
Attracted by the prospect of crumbs, it
perches in its hundreds in the boughs
overhead, and chatters all the I'M
musical languages of a feathered Babel.
1t appears to have received the name
of canary, ut lucus non lucendo, be-
cause it's song is quite different from
| the melody of that charming bird. It's
rasping twitter is as grating on the
ear as it is incessant. Indeed, it would
| be difficult to say what sound it is more
unlike than the song of the canary. 1t
is certainly a yellow bird, but that
should not entitle it to the name of one
of the sweetest of singers. This irrlta-
| ing creature is completely eclipsed in
good manners by the gentle little bush
wren. He is a robin white breast, and
behaves in a very modest manner. APP
pearing mysterously on STONE be-
side one. he accepts the proffered
ctumb and hops away into the bush
| again. Presently you turn your head
and are surprised to find him sitting
again within a foot of your hand. He
! is so modest and quiet, and SO certain
that you are not brutal enough to hurt
/ him, that he is great favorite, and
comes in for a large share of the
! crumbs. His singing is a wonderful
study in vowel sounds. In the early
morning Of a bright day--and most
days are bright in his cl!mate-hep perch
es on the top of dead tree trunk and
! proceeds to enumerate all the different
kinds of vowel sounds a robin white
/ breast is capable of uttering.
The space of short article will not
extend to a description Of the fantail,
which spreads it's tail when flying; the
silver eye or bright eye, so named from
the ring of silver round it's eye, the
kal1a or large parrot; the red and yell
low-headed parrokeet; the long-taile1
cuckoo, whose whistling is chromatic
and peculiar; the ground lark, which
| CttN ileilutf SOdf nor sing, puC peTCNeS
on trees. Nor of waterfowl, the crested
srebe, which ducks the FASH and is
under water before the shot reaches
him; the pokako, whose tail hobs as he
walks; the kiwi, which calls from the
other side of the lake the whole night
long with a harsh whistle: the paradise
duck or goose, the gray duck, the teal,
the river snlhag, nor the gaudy king
| fisher. Yet any account of the New Zea-
land birds, however short, would be in
complete without mention of very
! quaint and curious specimen well
known to travellers. 1t is not the keah
to which I refer, that degraded bird
once of vegetarian instinct, but now
"a consumer of the kidneys of live sheep;
no it is a. more innocent fowl the weka,
or Maori hen.
| This creature has jackdaw pro-
pensities, and will carry off spoons
! knives, and forks and has even been
|