152 MUTTON BIRDS 



several believed to be extinct, or almost extinct, 

 can be saved. We shall do this good work most 

 cheaply and most efficiently, by giving every 

 assistance to our native keeper, forest ranger, 

 and inspector-general of nuisances, — the Weka. 



The Weka is a most exquisitely inquisitive 

 bird, and anything new in the forest must be 

 inspected by him, not once or twice or thrice, 

 but thoroughly, and again, and again, and again. 

 There is something, in truth, quite extraordinary 

 and abnormal in the delight of this bird in 

 exploration, and the gratification of curiosity 

 seems to be hardly less a part of his life than 

 the exercise of the functions that bid him move, 

 and mate, and feed himself. Curiosity, indeed, 

 is not the correct word. His is rather a passion 

 for fullest enquiry and investigation. Holes 

 and l3urrows cannot — it is impossible — under 

 any conditions, — under any conceivable circum- 

 stances — be too often visited. 



I remember a Kiwi's breeding burrow, 

 vacated, and with fragments of the pale green 

 egg still lying amongst the feathers and ferns 

 of which the nest had been composed. This 

 lining had perhaps for a day or so been thus 

 exposed, and had no doubt been pulled out by 

 the Wekas themselves. Yet even then their 

 passion for investigation was unallayed. The 

 hole was so often entered by first one and then 

 another hen Wel^a — I think the two of them 

 were sharing a family of chiclvs — that at last 

 I began to think, against all likelihood and all 

 experience, that these birds must in some way be 

 going to use the burrow for themselves. One 

 of them would arrive, perhaps for the tenth 

 time within an hour, unwearied still in 



