110 Transactions. — Zoology. 



men all pulling with desperate strength, knowing that to relax 

 for a moment meant swamping and destruction to us all ; for 

 the best swimmer could not long have survived a capsize in 

 such a sea, and with the atmosphere and water so intensely 

 cold. After some four hours of unflagging labour, a lull in 

 the storm enabled us to get under the lee of Motutaiko ; but 

 half an hour after we had landed, in a little rocky cove on the 

 western side of the island, the storm redoubled in force, and 

 for some hours such a gale blew as had not been witnessed in 

 the lake for years. The "little white horses" of the ssa 

 chased each other in quick succession, and the spray rose in 

 clouds as the winds swept over the tempestuous waters. Of 

 course the first consideration on reaching land was a sense of 

 gratitude at having escaped from a very perilous position ; but 

 I was delighted on landing to hear on all sides the silvery 

 notes of the Korimako. As is well known, this little songster, 

 which formerly was so abundant everywhere, has for a long 

 time past been practically extinct in the North Island. At 

 the time of this visit to Motutaiko it had not been heard of 

 for several years on the mainland, although it was known to 

 exist on certain islands off the coast, such as the Little 

 Barrier in the Hauraki Gulf, and the Island of Kapiti in Cook 

 Strait ; and the generally-accepted theory had been that the 

 chief factor in its extermination was the introduced rat. That 

 certainly was my own belief. But a fact now came to my 

 knowledge wdiich seemed to tell very much against that 

 theory. It was this : The island on which I so unexpectedly 

 met with the Bell-bird is famous for its rats. It is covered 

 with pohutukawa trees and koromiko scrub, and the whole 

 island swarms with rats. The ground is in places almost 

 honeycombed with their burrows, for in one spot I counted 

 no less than five holes within a radius of eighteen inches. So 

 numerous were they that Topia Turoa had found it necessary 

 to turn some cats adrift on the island to reduce their numbers 

 before he could put in a crop of potatoes on one of the slopes ; 

 and wind-bound boats lying in the little sandy cove at night 

 have, it is said, been invaded by multitudes of rats and had 

 all their provisions carried off. 



Then, again, as to the rat theory, it is a significant fact 

 that, although the Korimako has disappeared from the North 

 Island, it has continued to exist in the South Island, although 

 in somewhat diminished numbers ; and, so far as I am aware, 

 the introduced rat is as plentiful there as in the North. There 

 may be destructive causes in operation of which we have no 

 present knowledge. 



I lately had an opportunity of examining a collection of 

 twenty-three eggs of this species, all from the South Island. 

 I made the following notes : They vary only very slightly in 



