500 Transactions. 



agricultural land can be obtained elsewhere, at less cost. Why- 

 hack down, burn, and destroy splendid timber land in one part 

 of the country and feebly attempt to sow and replant with trees 

 other parts ? Why make an attempt to preserve our native 

 birds by providing sanctuaries in parts where birds are scarce, 

 when in other parts, where the birds exist in myriads, we wan- 

 tonly and by law exterminate and destroy them 1 



Thus have we taken a hurried survey of our avifauna, birds 

 many of them unique in the scientific world. The least valuable 

 for game, the poorest songsters, the least interesting still survive 

 in considerable numbers ; the battered ranks of the rest tell 

 the sad tale. It is indeed pitiful reading, this passing of the 

 New Zealand ornis. 



Art. XLIV. — The Little Barrier Bird-sanctuary. 

 By James Drummond, F.L.S., F.Z.S. 



[Read before the Philosophical Institute of Canterbury, 2nd October, 1907.] 



By the courtesy of Mr. T. E. Donne, General Manager of the 

 Department of Tourist and Health Resorts, and of Mr. R. H. 

 Shakespear, Conservator of the Little Barrier Bird-sanctuary, 

 I was able, at the beginning of 1907, to spend a fortnight on 

 the island sanctuary, and to observe some of the birds there. 



The numbers of our birds have been greatly decreased in 

 recent years. Species have been driven out of districts with 

 the advance of civilisation, and many birds which were once 

 plentiful in nearly all parts are now found only in secluded spots. 

 But I do not think that the position is as bad as it has been 

 freely reported to be. Extensive inquiries have convinced me 

 that we are justified in striking a much brighter note than has 

 been struck by writers on ornithology in this country for a long 

 time. It is quite probable that no native bird has been com- 

 pletely exterminated since Europeans came to New Zealand ; 

 there is, at any rate, no absolute evidence to show that any 

 New Zealand bird has boon exterminated during the past sixty 

 years. The great destruction which has been wrought, how- 

 ever, has placed our birds in a distressing position, and a visit 

 to one of their sanctuaries has a deep interest for all New - 

 Zealanders. 



The Little Barrier Island is four miles and a half long and 

 three miles and three-quarters wide. It lies forty-three miles 



