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The breeding of the South Island Fantail (Rhipidura fuliginosa fuliginosa) was studied at Kowhai Bush, Kaikoura, for three breeding seasons from 1976 to 1978. Although 372 birds (nestlings and adults) were banded, few were seen again and very few bred in the study area. Breeding occurred from August to February. Some pairs raised three broods but attempted up to five if failures occurred. Details are given of nests, nest building, egg laying, clutch size, incubation, hatching and fledging success, and juveniles. Both sexes shared nest building, incubation, brooding, feeding nestlings and feeding juveniles, although the division of labour was sometimes unequal. Some aspects of behaviour differed slightly from that of the North Island subspecies. Females bred at one year old, but males could breed within one or two months of fledging when paired with an adult. A seemingly unpaired female successfully raised a brood of three young. Juveniles from one family group sometimes joined another family group and were accepted and fed by the foster parents. Black pairs produced young in the ratio of three black to one pied, and black x pied matings produced approximately equal numbers of black and pied young. Pied pairs produced 97.8% pied and 2.2% black young, which conflicts with the model previously proposed for the genetics of melanism in the Fantail.