Mutton Birds and other Birds. 



Chapter I. 

 SANCTUARIES. 



I^^^ROM the date on which the first iNIoa 

 "^ " ' '' bone was bi'oui>ht to England, the 

 Avifauna of Xew Zeahmd has excited 

 a jjecnliar interest. There was a ro- 

 mance of science in that paper where, 

 against the advice of friends, Owen staked his 

 reputation on the interpretation of a single bone ; 

 and more learned pa])ers have perha|)S been 

 Avritten about our Kiwis than about any other 

 family of birds in the world. The enormous 

 period of time during which New Zealand has 

 been isolated, has given her birds time for a high 

 degree of specialisation; and by scientific 

 o]-nithologists our Dominion, small as is its 

 extent, has been considered the most striking and 

 most essential of the six regions into which the 

 bird life of the world has been apportioned. Our 

 birds will fit into no well-ordered groups: our 

 Thrushes are hardly Thrushes, our Crows are 

 hardly Crows, our Starling is hardly a 

 Starling. The trusteeship of these rare 

 creatures is" in our hands, and it is worth 



