The Bellbird and the Tin.

But the sweetest thing about Akaroa is to my mind the charm of its birds, our birds of the Maori forest. Here, at any rate, the native birds have not all been frightened away into the heart of the remnants of the bush. The bellbird and the tui breed and find their food in close company with the homes of man. They have adapted themselves to the happy blending of native and introduced trees. The little trilling riroriro nests in the trees where the English thrush sings, and the makomako, the bellbird, is everywhere in the shady copses and orchard-groves. Lying in bed in the early morning, in the principal hotel of the place, I have heard the tui's notes in the eucalyptus trees. Chuckles and deep gurgles of melody came from its throat as it dropped from bough to bough for the nectar in the gum flowers. When the pears are ripening, too, the tui and the makomako are there before the orchardist, but I must say that I never heard any complaint against the fruit-tasting ways of the Maori birds. Akaroa folk, true nature-lovers, like to hear the tui and its mellifluous little cousin in their gardens, and they do not begrudge them food-payment for their songs and their company.