Feeding the Sweet Singers.

Bellbirds from the Little Barrier Island sanctuary were recently liberated in the Waitakere Ranges, Auckland's Blue Mountains on the West, and it is expected they will thrive there if they are satisfied with the food supply in the form of berry and nectar-containing flowers. A good deal can be done by our bird-lovers to encourage both the bellbird and the tui by planting suitable food trees and shrubs in parks and gardens. Not only are native trees acceptable to these silver-tongued chimers which town-dwellers so seldom see or hear. The birds have discovered the merits of some kinds of Australian eucalypts, and they are quite fond of flowering gums. Such places as Akaroa—as was mentioned in a Railways Magazine article recently—Rotorua, Cambridge, and other well-planted towns are attractive to the birds, and it is very delightful to hear the rich full notes of the tui and the tinkle of the korimako close to the homes of man. An Auckland nature-observer said the other day that he had seen the bellbird obtaining nectar from a flowering gum in one of the Rotorua streets.

The kotukutuku, or native fuchsia, with its plenitude of fruit, and the kowhai are two particularly enticing shrubs for the honeysuckers, and the pohutukawa is, of course, a great draw for the birds if it is planted in considerable groves.