30 Transactions. 



Art. V. — Birds on Kapiti Island. 



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



[Read before the Philosophical Institute of Canterbury, 2nd September, 1908.] 



Early this year, when my annual hoHday arrived, I gladly tCok ad- 

 vantage of an opportunity to visit Kapiti Island, which was declared a 

 native bird and plant sanctuary a few years ago. It is one of three 

 sanctuaries in New Zealand. There is the Little Barrier Island in the 

 north, Eesolution Island in the south, and Kapiti Island halfway be- 

 tween. It lies about three miles off the western coast of Wellington 

 Province, and at the western mouth of Cook Strait. It is about 5,000 

 acres in area, six miles long, and a mile and a quarter broad along its 

 whole length. It is a rugged, precipitous island, and is much cut up 

 into gorges, gullies, and creeks. Unlike the Little Barrier, however, it 

 has a good deal of flat land. All along the western side of the island 

 there are high cliffs, some of which rise to a height of 1,700 ft., near 

 Mount Titeremoana, the highest peak. 



I spent a week on the island, from the 21st February to the 27th 

 February, making my headquarters at the Government cottage, on the 

 terrace above the Rangatira Flat, halfway down the eastern coast. This 

 site is very suitable for the purpose, as forest-clad hills rise up imme- 

 diately ^behind the terrace, and I had to go only a few paces to be 

 amongst the birds. I noted twenty- three species, and I have included 

 in the list seven others which wei'e seen by previous observers. 



The v^'hitehead (CertJiiparus alhica])illus) is very plentiful. It was 

 the first native bird I saw on the sanctuary. I had hardly entered the 

 bush on the slopes of the hills behind Rangatiia wdien I heard the white- 

 head's noisy twittering. I heard it every day that I spent on the island. 

 The silence of the forests was broken more frequently by whiteheads 

 than by any other birds. It is satisfactory to know that this bird is 

 represented on Kapiti as well as on the Little Barrier, as it had been 

 reported to be on the verge of extinction. When I returned to Welling- 

 ton after my visit to Kapiti, Mr. A. Hamilton told me that he had seen 

 it in large numbers at Silverstream, near Welhngton City, and in Christ- 

 church. Mr. Edgar Stead reported its presence in Hawke's Bay, while 

 Dr. L. Cockayne states that he saw large numbers in the central part of 

 the Tongariro National Park, when he made a botanical survev there 

 this year. 



Bell-birds {Anthornis melanvra) are also plentiful. I do not think 

 that there is any place in the Dominion where they are more plentiful. 

 The graceful flight of the tui {Prostliemadera novce-zealandic2) is a common 

 sight on the sanctuary. These handsome birds are seen in large numbers 

 on the karaka-trees. The berries were ripe at the time of my visit, and 

 they seemed to afford the " parson- bird " ample supplies of food. I saw 

 only a few fantails, but I noted that both the pied (Bhipidura flabellifera) 

 and the black species {B. fuliginosa) are present. I was rather surprised 

 to find the black one as plentiful as the pied. The pied fantail is 

 found all over New Zealand, but the black one is common only in the 

 south. 



