Guthkie-Smith. — On Bird-life on a Bun. 375 



At long intervals, and then only for a few moments, is seen 

 the little water-crake. Upon one occasion, however, though 

 it IS rave to see them fly, I noticed three together on the wing. 

 Mr. Brandon describes the call, or one of the calls, of this bird 

 as being not unlike the sound of raupo-stems crushed. 



The beautiful pukeko, once a very common bird, was very 

 nearly shot off the run while I was in England for two years. 

 Even now that none have been killed for three years they 

 hardly appear to increase. It seems that when once a species 

 gets scarce it is apt to altogether disappear. Whether this is 

 because the vermin that swarm in New Zealand have more 

 time to spare to attend to the survivors or for some more 

 subtle reason I do not know. The pukeko, if let alone, 

 becomes very tame, and in spring especially loses its wildness 

 still more. These birds are fond of grain. With their power- 

 ful beaks they used to pull the oat-straws out of our stacks. 

 This they did with care, so as not to break the stems and 

 thereby lose the grains at the end. 



Another lake-bird is the little dtibchick. As we hear the 

 short-tailed puffin at night flying overhead, I count it also as 

 one of our Tutira birds. It is called by the bushmen the 

 " mutton-bird," but can be only, I think, Piiffiniis brcvi- 

 caudus. 



The black shag may any day be seen spreadeagling himself 

 on some dead log, and darting his snaky neck first in one 

 direction and then another. The white-throated shag, though 

 rarer, is also to be found on the lake. 



Of stray sea-bn-ds we have three species on the station — or, 

 rather, have had, for their stay is usually very brief — the com- 

 mon tern, the godwit (I think), and the dove-petrel. This last 

 bird tlew down to the fire beside a native hut. Wiien offered 

 water to drink, or even at the sound of water, this petrel 

 would begin to shake its wings, duck its head, and go through 

 the motions of a bird washing itself in deep water. 



This last species brings the number up to thirty-five, and 

 completes my paper on " Bird-life on a Kun." I fear that I 

 have not been able to tell you a great deal that is new, but 

 perhaps the enumeration alone of species that have been and 

 are on the run before or during 1895 may be of use to some 

 future student of bird-life in New Zealand. 



