PEEFACE. 



|N the following chapters a part of the 

 bird life of a part of one of the great 

 natural sanctuaries of New Zealand 

 has been sketched, and without 

 undue egotism the writer may 

 be allowed t(> plead, at least the poor 

 excuse, that half a loaf is better than no 

 bread. At any rate the volume will have been, 

 in his opinion, justified, if the charms of our 

 wild lands, and especially of Stewart Island, 

 can be passed on to other New Zealanders. 



'Back to the land' is the soundest of all 

 political cries, but more than that is required. 

 'Back to the wilds' is what will bring to 

 each who makes the trial, the happiness 

 that brings no later regrets, from which all 

 troubles will be forgotten, and which, unlike 

 any other j)ortion of our lives, will leave 

 the memory onh^ of its pleasures behind. 

 Assuredly in this twentieth century we are 

 attempting an over-civilisation, and men have 

 almost come to believe that to walk all day 

 in streets or to sit at ledger and desk is the 

 natural lot. He who so thinks has lived but half 

 his life — he has failed to enjoy the savage 

 latent in himself. It is hearing and sight, — 

 those most ancient senses in the frame of 

 man, that give in their exercise the fullest 

 joy, and to listen and watch are more than 

 to think. 



