( 375) 



dense growth of climbing kickie, spreading out its tufted arms in all directions. 

 Eight in front of us was a thick and almost impenetrable tangle of undergrowth, 

 laced together with the kareao-vine, which hangs its wiry cables from the tree tops 

 above and twists and coils abont among the underwood in ever}" conceivable form. 

 Then a little to the right, and open to the light of heaven through a gap in the 

 forest, could be seen a lovely group of Cyathea medidlaris, the stems of the largest 

 being some forty feet in height ; and in their very midst, touched by their waving 

 fronds and leaning against a sturdy hinau, stood a withered, crownless trunk, 

 covered with a thick profusion of epiphytic jilants in every shade of green, and 

 fonning with the tree-ferns a study that I was never tired of gazing upon from our 

 open shelter. When broad daylight poured in upon us through the opening in the 

 forest, or the slanting rays of the setting sun lighted up the feathery crowns of 

 these majestic tree-ferns, casting the vegetation below into deeper shade, the effect 

 was simply enchanting. Then out of the tangle in front there rose a beautiful 

 specimen of Ci/athea dealbata, its starlike crown a perfect model of graceful 

 symmetry, and its lofty stem draped with creeping kohia of brilliant green; while, 

 to heighten the general effect, there hung from a neighbouring tree festoons of the 

 beautiful white clematis, just bursting into full bloom. Examined more in detail, 

 the surroundings of our little camp were full of interest. The whole ground was 

 (.•arjieted with mosses and ferns of alL the commoner species, whilst a fallen log at 

 our very feet presented on its damp surface a perfect garden of the curious kidney 

 fern {'rrirlwmanes reniforme), tens of thousands of beautiful ferns of vivid satiny- 

 green crowding one upon another in endless profusion, intermingled with the delicate 

 fronds of Hi/menopkyllum. Whilst we were engaged in camp preparations the native 

 lad who had taken charge of the dogs came in with three fine Kiwis, caught in our 

 vicinity, but unfortunately crushed to death, as the dogs were left unmuzzled. 



" After having refreshed ourselves in the morning, we started on our first real 

 Kiwi-liunt. AVe took a course down the side of the gully, and were soon in a perfect 

 labyrinth of supplejack {Rkipogonum scandens). These vines hung from the trees, 

 ran along the ground, twisted around each other and crossed and recrossed, 

 forming the most complete Chinese puzzle one could imagine, and so interlacing 

 the nuderwood together that; it was a matter of e.xtreme difficulty to get through 

 it even at a slow pace. Then when the little dogs took up the scent and disappeared 

 down the gully it became necessary to follow qnickly in the direction their bells 

 indicated, so as to be ' in at the death ' ; and then the hunt became as exciting as 

 it was difficult — the kareao catching the feet and tripping one up, or striking 

 painfully across the shins — and so up and down, now swinging by a vine, now 

 pushing on all fours through the tangle ; forcing one's way through clumps of 

 kickie and dense beds of Toman'a down into the bottom of the ravine ; then, as the 

 scent led u])wards, following the tinkling bells (the dogs being out of sight) up the 

 tangled slope again, the course sometimes forming a complete circuit of the ' field,' 

 and representing the erratic wanderings of the Kiwi upon the feeding ground the 

 night before. Heated, out of breath, scratched in the face and hands, and with our 

 shins aching from repeated contact with the kareao-vines, every now and then we 

 halted to ascertain by the sound of the bells the position of the dogs, and then, full 

 of excitement, resumed our novel chase again. At length, just beside a rough 

 track on the hill-side, our dogs ran their quarry to earth, and began to tear with 

 their paws at the opening to the ' rua-kiwi.' Calling the dogs off and closing in 

 upon the spot, we drew from the cavity a fine male Kiwi, and then two vigorous 



