206 Transactions. — Zoology. 



country east of the central or dividing range, as it has been 

 longer colonised and more adapted to agriculture and the de- 

 pasturing of sheep and cattle than the bush lands west of the 

 Alps. In the more settled or gold-mining centres of the west 

 coast the same changes — disastrous to the flora and fauna 

 alike — are now proceeding, but nowhere so rajDidly as they have 

 done on the east coast. A record of the modification and ex- 

 tinction among the fauna alone since the settlement of the 

 colony would form a volume of great value. But as this is 

 now impossible, it will be well to urge workers in all branches 

 of zoology in New Zealand to collect all available material 

 without delay, and record their researches from time to time. 

 Following this method, I desire to place before this society to- 

 night some observations on the ornithology of the Lake 

 Brunner region of Grey County, West Coast. I am induced to 

 offer a paper on the birds inhabiting the lake district, as the 

 bush remains in its primeval state, and many of the anomalous 

 and more specialised forms, formerly existing, but now extinct, 

 east of the Alps, enjoy in it a fairly genial home. This, 

 however, is destined soon to change, as the new Midland Eail- 

 way when constructed will extend through part of the valley 

 and near the shores of the lake for half its length. As the 

 country becomes cleared and settled, only a few years will 

 suffice to modify and extinguish much of the rich flora and 

 fauna now existing in these beautiful and stern solitudes. 



Very few writers on the zoology of New Zealand have dealt 

 with this subject, yet the ordinary observer cannot fail to have 

 detected the many changes proceeding continuously among 

 various groups of animals. In the orders Lcpidoptcra, Cole- 

 optcra, Diptcra, Orthoptera, and especially the Hymenoptcra, a 

 vast number of species have become locally extinct. Some 

 are slowly diminishing, while others remain almost stationary, 

 or continue to increase. In these several orders it will be 

 found that the most specialised forms are the first to succumb. 

 Although many have become locally extinct, or have been 

 driven from their former haunts, some are still found where 

 the features of the country remain unchanged, or the flora less 

 modified. As the land is put under cultivation, or sheep and 

 cattle are put to depasture on the native vegetation, the flora 

 and fauna are soon more or less modified and become partly 

 extinct. 



There can be no doubt that the same causes affecting the 

 extinction of our plants and insects can be shown to act in 

 turn on the species of birds now fast dying out. The causes 

 in New Zealand are clearing and cultivation, modification of 

 climate, and the introduction of injurious and predatory forms. 

 As 2nany of our plants and insects are wholly dependent on 

 each other for existence, any cause affecting the one affects the 



