BELL-BIRDS AND BLOW-FLIES.
A correspondent of the Forest and Bird Protection Society tells of an incident which supports a statement of the wellknown naturalist, William Potts, in his “ Out in the Open ” (1882), that the fancy of bell-birds sometimes turns to food which is usually supposed to be outside their dietary. While waiting at Bluecliffs for the arrival of the boat from Port Craig, the actions of a pair of bell-birds attracted my attention (the writer remarks). A piece of deerskin, lying in front of the hut, was swarming with blow-flies, and the birds (a cock and a hen) were industriously catching these insects and flying away to the bush. As they were obviously feeding their young, I followed, and soon found the nest in the top of a tall pepper-bush. I timed the trips of the birds, and they averaged five trips each in four minutes, each with not one or two flies, but as many as their little beaks could hold. When I left an hour later they were “still going strong.” Evidently the family liked the “bluebottles.”
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Forest and Bird, Issue 37, 1 August 1935, Page 16
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180BELL-BIRDS AND BLOW-FLIES. Forest and Bird, Issue 37, 1 August 1935, Page 16
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