Rhipidura flabellifera, Gmelin. (Pied Fantail.) One has to speak of so many of our species as decreasing, or as having reached the border-land of extinction, that it is quite refreshing to be able to record that the Fantailed Flycatcher—that pretty little denizen of our woods—is perhaps more plentiful than ever; at any rate, it shows no sign of diminution. Mr. Robert Mair, writing to me from Whangarei on the 11th September, says, “I saw a pleasing sight a few weeks since. There are generally five or six Fantails flitting about our shrubbery in the evening, catching gnats in the air and diverting one by their fantastic aerial evolutions. But on this particular evening I counted no less than twenty-five of them at one time.” I never see this little bird, or hear its “laugh,” without being reminded of the romantic Maori myth of Maui's disaster, which brought death into the world, when Hinenuitepo, awakened by the merriment of the Tiwaiwaka, closed her mouth and put an end to Maui's ambitious dream of conquering man's last enemy. The story has been well told By Sir George Grey in his “Polynesian Mythology.” Graucalus melanops, Latham. (Australian Shrike.) To the already recorded instances of the occurrence of this Australian species in New Zealand I have now to add another. Mr. William Townson writes to me that one of these birds was shot near Bradshaw's Creek, at Westport, some years ago, and came into Dr. Gaze's possession. Unfortunately, it was ultimately destroyed by moths. Prosthemadera novæ-zealandiæ, Gmelin. (The Tui.) A remarkable specimen which has come into my possession has the head, neck all round, the whole of the breast, and sides of the body umber-brown, the feathers of the breast having pale shafts; neck-frill very indistinct, being often reduced to mere shaft-lines of white; upper surface of body, wings, and tail creamy white, with a broad alar bar of pure white; thighs, abdomen, and upper and lower tail-cóverts pale yellowish-brown; quills and tail-feathers umber-brown on their inner webs; heck-bands pure white; bill and feet horn-coloured. A nest of this species (now in the Otago Museum) was found by our party fixed in the branches of a makomako (Aristotelia racemosa), about 12 ft. from the ground, at the head of Milford Sound. It is of symmetrical shape, and firmly put together, the outworks consisting of twigs and soft tree-moss, then a layer of fern-hair, and inside of this a lining of white feathers. Curiously enough, these are sea-birds'