374 Transactions. — Zoology. 



struggle for existence. Twice in taking wild swarms I have- 

 found egg-shells among the bj'oken bark and dust. On several 

 occasions the whekau, or laughing-owl, has even been stung to 

 death, and this may happen to the kaka also. There is no 

 doubt, at any rate, that the bee has often usurped his hollow 

 tree. 



Both our cuckoos arrive about the first week in October. 

 The long-tailed species is rare, but the shining-cuckoo may be- 

 heard everywhere during the early summer months. It loves,, 

 like the tui, to perch on the top of some bare bough. Froni 

 beneath I have often watched the music brew and bubble in its 

 bronze-brown throat. This cuckoo fairly swarms in the bush 

 between Mahia and Gisborne. Upon one occasion I heard 

 the pipiwarauroa whistling within a few minutes of mid- 

 night. 



Twelve years ago I knew a couple of natives shoot eighty 

 pigeons in a day. Their numbers have sadly fallen off since 

 that time ; not a quarter that number are now killed during the 

 whole season. They are easy to shoot, and good to eat ; but it. 

 seems a pity that these confiding birds should, from these very 

 qualities, be unfit to survive. 



One of the rarest birds, perhaps, that has ever visited the 

 station is the kotuku, or white heron. Buller describes it as 

 wild and shy ; yet upon its first appearance here I rode directly 

 beneath it. It was on the top bough of a large willow, some 

 50ft. or 60ft. from the ground, and perhaps because I had no 

 gun, or because it was tired after a long flight, I was allowed 

 to admire at leisure. A few hours later a native fired at the- 

 bird. We saw it once again, sailing up the lake, snow-white 

 between the blue of water and sky. Certain feathers of the 

 kotuku were in old times used to ornament the heads of 

 chieftains, and the natives about us have a tradition that one 

 of these white herons after being seen at the Tongoio lagoons 

 will next appear at Tatira. On two other occasions we have 

 had visits from these graceful birds. 



Another smaller variety of the heron family — the bittern — 

 is more common. Sir Walter Buller remarks concerning this 

 bird, "If unmolested it may be observed stalking knee-deep in 

 the water in search of food, with its neck inclined forward, 

 raising its foot high at every step as if deliberately measuring 

 the ground." Watching the bird, I am inclined to believe 

 this high action is assumed in order not to dim the mirror of 

 water, and thereby dull the vision of fish. 



In the early days of the run I think the weka increased in 

 numbers ; now, however, the bird is getting rarer. Its cry 

 resembles the weird moorland call of the curlew, and there 

 are few prettier sights than a brood of lively black weka- 

 chicks. 



