- Petroica macrocephala
Identification
13 cm., 11 g., large head, short tail, sub species vary in size and colour, the Snares being totally black; North Island has black head with white spot above bill, black upperparts and upper breast, white underparts, white wing bar and sides to tail; South, Chatham and Auckland Islands similar but with yellow breast; adult females have brown head and upperparts
Distribution
Taxonomy
There are five races of this bird, each restricted to an island and its outlying islands; North Island tomtit, toitoi, South Island tomtit, macrocephala, Chatham Island tomtit, chathamensis, Snares Island tomtit, dannefaerdi, and Auckland Island tomtit, marrineri.
Habitat
Behaviour
One pair of tomtits apparently stay about the same area all their lives and resent the presence of another of their kind within their fenceless domain, the male fiercely chasing the trespasser and causing it to hurriedly take the shortest cut home. The range of the tomtit's territory is quite extensive, maybe ten or more acres
