Other Names (World)
New Zealand Bellbird, The Bellbird, New Zealand Bell, Three Kings Bellbird (obscura), Chatham Bellbird (melanocephala), Chatham Island Bellbird (melanocephala)
New Zealand Bellbird (Anthornis melanura) [XC112821]
by Johnny Rommens from Ulva Island, New Zealand (song)
New Zealand Bellbird (Anthornis melanura) [XC842494]
by Ken George from Milnthorp, Golden Bay, Tasman District, Tasman, New Zealand (call)
Eggs (Guide)
3 - 4; pinkish-white to deep pink, blotched and spotted with pink. Incubation: about 14 days; by female only.
Young
Fledge in about 14 days.
Subspecies
Distinctive Chatham Is subspecies melanocephala (large, dark, yellow-eyed), sometimes treated as a separate species, is extinct. Nominate subspecies exhibits slight clinal variation, becoming darker from north to south. Proposed subspecies dumerilii (from Bay of Islands, on North I, in New Zealand) and incoronata (Auckland Is) considered inseparable from nominate.
The following 3 subspecies are recognised:
melanura (Sparrman, 1786) - New Zealand, including many
offshore islands; Auckland Is.
.
obscura Falla, 1948 - Three Kings Is, Nwest of northern North I
(New Zealand).
oneho Bartle & Sagar, 1987 - Poor Knights Is, east of N
North I.