1 Transactions. — Miscellaneous. 



the ravages of rats and wild cats, the injury effected by these 

 agencies is but trivial when compared with the destruction 

 wrought by settlers, who have shot it during all seasons, on 

 account of its value for food. The native quail {Cohirnix 

 novcB-zealanclics, Quoy and Gaim.), once common over large 

 portions of the colony, is practically extinct; so far as I am 

 aware, not a single specimen has been seen for some years 

 past, although it is believed to survive in the district between 

 Lake Wakatipu and the Cosmos Peaks. Birds of this class 

 suffer perhaps from the progress of settlement more severely 

 than any others ; their food is diminished, and numbers are 

 destroyed by the surface-burnings so frequent in the early 

 stages of a pastoral district, while they are attacked by birds 

 of prey, cats, rats, and dogs whenever they venture into the 

 open, and their eggs are destroyed by the weka. 



The great diminution in the numbers of the northern and 

 southern wekas [Ocydrovius earli, Gray, and 0. atistraMs, 

 Sparrm) affords strong testimony to the intensity of the 

 struggle for existence. Both formerly occurred in great abund- 

 ance, both are hardy birds, and both are extremely wary ; but 

 under the changed conditions produced by the introduction of 

 the sheep and rabbit the wekas have greatly dmiinished in 

 numbers, and are now but seldom seen near settlements. The 

 southern weka is more plentiful ni mountain districts than 

 the northern, but it has become more wary. Although both 

 suffered to some extent from the attacks of rats, wild cats, and 

 dogs, no appreciable diminution was observed until the intro- 

 duction of stoats and ferrets, against which they are clearly 

 unable to contend. The striped rail (Balkis lyhilij^pensis , L.) 

 does not seem to have diminished so largely as might have 

 been expected, but owdng to the excessively shy habits of this 

 bird it is not easy to form an opinion. Hutton's rail {Cabalus 

 modestus, Hutt.), of the Chatham Islands, one of the most 

 remarkable, as it is one of the rarest, of ocydromine birds, is 

 on the verge of extinction, if it be not already extinct. It has 

 only been found on the Islet of IMangare, which, according to 

 a valued correspondent, is now under settlement, the first 

 act of the settler having been to capture all the specimens of 

 the Cabalus that he could find, in order to realise tlieir market- 

 value. It is a lamentable oversight that this small islet, the 

 value of which could have been but trivial, was not purchased 

 long ago in order to insure the preservation of this singularly 

 interesting bird. 



The swamp-hen {Poiyhyrio melanotus, Temm.) seemed for 

 a time to increase with the progress of settlement rather than 

 to diminish, but of late years there has been a marked dimi- 

 nution of its numbers, which may possibly be traced to the 

 destruction of its eggs by the ubiquitous rat. 



