BuLLER. — On the Ornithology of Neio Zealand. 7 



for the beautiful virgin forest, and expressed an earnest hope 

 that the hand of the destroyer would spare some portions of 

 this magnificent bush, with its unique forms, and pass them 

 down for tlie delight and study of future generations. 



The beautiful Huia, famous alike in Maori tradition and 

 song, is becoming every year more scarce, notwithstanding 

 its close protection by a statute which, I am glad to say, is 

 very rigidly enforced by the police in the bush districts. 

 This is, no doubt, owing mainly to the inevitable destruction of 

 its favourite forest haunts in the steady march of European 

 settlement, large areas of bush land being annually cleared 

 and burnt off in the Forty-mile Bush as elsewhere. Apart 

 from this, the periodical recurrence of devastating bush-fires, 

 originating nobody knows how, is altering the whole aspect of 

 the country. However much this may be deplored, it is one 

 of the necessary accompaniments of colonisation in a country 

 like this. Owing to such causes, the range of the Huia, always 

 very limited in extent, is becoming more and more restricted 

 every year, and its ultimate fate is not a matter of mere specu- 

 lation. I was never more impressed with this than when I 

 made an ascent of the Ruahine Range in July last. A wide- 

 spread conflagration had swept through and killed many 

 thousands of acres of virgin forest on the side of the range 

 towards Woodville ; but, on getting beyond and above this 

 scene of desolation, we found the mountain-side clad with 

 thick vegetation. This consists on the lower ranges of the 

 usual mixture of native trees, but at a higher elevation it 

 changes almost entirely to tawhero, or mountain-cedar, which 

 becomes more and more stunted the further vou ascend, till 

 at length it is as gnarled and twisted in its growth as the 

 olives of Gethsemane, to which, indeed, the trees in this 

 condition present a remarkable likeness. At an altitude of 

 1,800 ft. the lovely Toclea sujjerba made its first appearance, 

 but this fern soon became the dominant plant, and we at 

 length found ourselves in patches of it many acres in extent, 

 looking very beautiful in its symmetrical fronds of vivid green. 

 We reached the summit of Whariti (3,500ft.) in good time, 

 and then stood on the dividing-line between the Provincial 

 Districts of Wellington and Hawke's Bay. The sky being 

 clear, we had a magnificent panoramic view of the surround- 

 ing country, both east and west coasts being visible, and the 

 cone of Mount Egmont in the far north, whilst a distant veil 

 of cloud alone prevented our seeing Ruapehu and the burning 

 mountain. We descended by the same route, crossing several 

 densely wooded spurs, and arriving at the foot of the range 

 before nightfall. 



Although the season was favourable, and the weather per- 

 fect, there was an almost total absence of bird-life. During 



