I08 From Magazines, &c. I , 



Emu 

 t Oct. 



mountain they had their feeding grounds, mostly in the scrub 

 wattle. 



" On the upper parts of Big River and Wild Horse Creek 

 (heads of the Mitta Mitta, under the Bogong), I saw dozens of 

 dancing birds, and acres of the ground were scarified by these 

 birds in searching for food, and only at rarest intervals was the 

 hazel seen, and then but very small and dwaifed specimens. 



"Around Buchan and all over Croajingolong the same is true. 

 I would very much like to know what their food consists of, and 

 if any solutions are offered as to the reason why the Lyre-Bird 

 has never been seen in the Otway forests, where the conditions 

 are practically identical with all the southern and middle parts 

 of Gippsland." — " Nature Notes," The Argits, 28 6/07. 



An Ideal Bird Sanctuary. — During the past six weeks 

 Dr. L. Cockayne, F.L.S., has been engaged in making a botan- 

 ical survey of Stewart Island, N.Z. In the course of a con- 

 versation with a reporter. Dr. Cockayne dropped speaking of 

 his botanical researches to talk of birds over the length and 

 breadth of New Zealand. He said : — " Our unique birds are 

 fast vanishing, and to the ordinary town dweller are virtually 

 unknown, but on Stewart Island, in many parts, they are really 

 as they were in the pre-European, and, for the matter of that, 

 in the pre-Maori days. These birds are a national asset, just 

 as much as are the scenery of New Zealand and its marvellous 

 vegetation, and it seems to me that here is a chance for the 

 colony to show that it is in earnest in its desire to protect its 

 birds, and that the whole of Stewart Island should be made a 

 sanctuary for bird life. This is not merely a matter of senti- 

 ment, but is also distinctly one of ^ s. d. If it were known the 

 world over that the birds of Stewart Island were sacred from the 

 gun of the pot-hunter, and there could be seen a fauna which 

 exists nowhere else on the face of the globe, and which could be 

 seen freely by all who visited the island, then the tourist attrac- 

 tions of that spot, and of the colony, would be largely increased. 



" All over the ranges south of Paterson's Inlet, the large Kiwi 

 is as plentiful as it was on the West Coast of the South Island 

 before misdirected energy turned loose the stoats and weasels. 

 Over the shrubs and sedges of wet lands the Fern-Bird flits in 

 great numbers. Everywhere one rests one is greeted by a 

 friendly Maori-Hen, flocks of Godwits soar above the waters of 

 the inlet, the lovely Pigeons can be seen high in the pine trees 

 banqueting on the berries of the miro. The bushman's friend, the 

 Robin, will almost feed out of one's hands. The Kaka is very 

 plentiful, the Tui and the Moka-Moka fill the forest with melody, 

 and a keen eye will discover an abundance of the smaller birds 

 — the Rifleman, the Wren, and so on. On the shores sea-birds of 



