Buller. — Notes on New Zealand Birds. 65 



sects, but showed great fondness for succulent leaves of any 

 kind, particularly those of Coprosma lucida, and all sorts of 

 native berries, whether ripe or green. He ate freely of the 

 ripe fruit of the whauhe, but it had a scouring effect, and I 

 had to discontinue the use of this food. It partook readily of 

 cooked potato, boiled rice, and soaked bread ; and it was fond 

 of water, drinking freely, but rarely washing itself as other 

 birds do, and yet its plumage was always in clean, silky 

 condition. The wattles were always carried tightly com- 

 pressed under the chin and meeting at their edges. As I be- 

 came better acquainted with the bird I found that it possessed 

 several notes besides those described in the recorded history 

 of the species. In the early morning, or before rain, it had a 

 melancholy call like "Kowai-koe ?'.' in a high key ; at other times 

 a mellifluous whistle, and every now and then a note quite in- 

 distinguishable from the short bell-toll of the Tui. To this 

 is no doubt due the circumstance that this is the Bell-bird of 

 many of the country settlers. Occasionally, but not often, he 

 sounded the rich organ-note — short, but of surpassing sweet- 

 ness — and at other times a soft note in repetition like the low 

 whimper of the Huia. The mention of yet another note, not 

 unlike a short, hollow cough, will prove that this bird was not 

 wanting in vocal accomplishments. Curiously enough, after 

 losing its tail by accident, the Kokako moped and hardly 

 uttered a sound, as if ashamed of the sorry condition it pre- 

 sented ; and as the new tail began to show itself the bird 

 regained its wonted sprightfulness. 



Heteralocha acutirostris, Gould. (The Huia.) 



To show how much scarcer this bird is than it was formerly, 

 I may mention that a few months ago, accompanied by Mr. 

 Morgan Carkeek, I made an expedition into the wooded ranges 

 at the back of Waikanae. We crossed the Akatarewa saddle 

 into the valley of the Hutt, and made a ten-mile circuit over 

 the wooded ranges, cutting our path with bill-hooks through 

 the virgin forest, rendered almost impervious by a tangle of 

 kiekie and supplejack, and camped several nights in the woods. 

 During the whole expedition we only saw a single Huia — a 

 male bird, which visited our camp in the early morning. Mr. 

 Carkeek assures me that when exploring and surveying in 

 these ranges only five or six years ago the Huia was compara- 

 tively plentiful. 



On a more recent occasion, accompanied by a Maori, I 

 visited the portion of the Forty-mile Bush where, as related 

 in my " Birds of New Zealand," I obtained so many speci- 

 mens in 1883. But the bush has completely disappeared before 

 the advancing wave of European settlement. From Pahiatua 

 we rode for twenty miles through clearings exhibiting nothing 

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