142 Transactions. — Zoology. 



than a year the habits of these birds while hving in confinement ; 

 and from his pleasing paper I shall quote a few passages bearing 

 more particularly on this part of my subject. 



In the beginning of his paper, Dr. Buller observes : — 

 " Their peculiar habits of feeding, which I have described from 

 actual observation, furnish to my own mind a sufficient 

 ' reason ' for the different development of the mandibles in the 

 two sexes, and may, I think, be accepted as a satisfactor^y solu- 

 tion of the problem. In the summer of ISGi I succeeded in 

 getting a pair of live birds. I kept these birds for more than a 

 year ; and when the male bird was accidentally killed, tlie other, 

 manifesting the utmost distress, pined for her mate and died 

 ten days afterwards." 



" The readiness with which these birds adapted themselves 

 to a condition of captivity was remarkable. Within a few days 

 after their capture they had become perfectly tame, and did not 

 appear to feel in any degree the restraint of confinement ; for, 

 although the window of the apartment in which they were kept 

 was thrown open and replaced by thin wire netting, I never 

 saw them make any attempt to regain their liberty." 



" They were fully adult birds, and were caught in the follow- 

 ing simple manner. The Maori who had caught them attracted 

 the birds, by an imitation of their cry, to the place where he lay 

 concealed ; then, with the aid of a long rod, he slipped a running 

 knot over the head of the female and secured her. The male, 

 emboldened by the loss of his mate, suffered himself to be 

 easily caught in the same manner. On receiving these birds, I 

 set them free in a well-lined and properly - ventilated room, 

 measuring about 6 feet by 8 feet. After feeding freely on the 

 huhu grub, a pot of which the Maori had brought with them, 

 they retired to one of the perches I had set up for them, and 

 cuddled together for the night." 



" It was amusing to note their treatment of the huhu. This 

 grub, the larva of a large nocturnal beetle [Pnonoplus reticu- 

 laris), which constitutes their principal food, infests all decayed 

 timber, attaining at maturity the size of a man's little finger. 

 Like all grubs of its kind, it is furnished with a hard head and 

 horny mandibles. On offering one of these to the Huia, he 

 would seize it in the middle, and, at once transferring it to his 

 perch and placing one foot firmly on it, he would tear ofl' the 

 hard parts, then, throwing the grub upwards to secure it length- 

 wise in his bill, would swallow it whole. ... I sent to the 

 woods for a small branched tree, and placed it in the centre of 

 the room : it was most interesting to watch these graceful birds 

 hopping from branch to branch, displaying themselves in a 

 variety of natural attitudes, and then meeting to caress each 

 other with their ivory bills, uttering at the same time a low 

 affectionate twitter." 



