Letters from the Pacific. 393 



are usually to be seen^ along with some Shags, among -which 

 Graculus carho is the most common. Terns I found every- 

 where, but sparingly and by no means in large flocks as in 

 other countries is usvially the case. In the dense forests birds 

 are, of course, still more scarce than in varied country, as is 

 the case everywhere. Indeed, even in the deepest woods, as 

 in that between Tauranga and Ohinemutu (which is one of the 

 finest in New Zealand, and, in fact, magnificent from the 

 grandeur of its trees and the variety of dense undergrowth, 

 chiefly ferns), one seldom observes any birds, except flocks of 

 Zosterops lateralis, here and there a single Fantail {Rhi- 

 pidura), or Miomoira dieffenbachi. But sometimes the ear is 

 struck by the wonderful voice of the Bell-bird {Prosthe- 

 madera) or the harsh cry of the Kaka {Nestor meridio7ialis) . 

 In speaking of the birds of New Zealand generally, as 

 they come under the eyes of the travelling and hunting 

 observer, one cannot allude only to those native to the 

 country, but must also recognize the foreigners, which in 

 some places already prevail, and will, in course of time, over- 

 power and exterminate their feathered native brethren, like 

 the white man does the Maori. In fact, our knowledge 

 of the species introduced with more or less success into New 

 Zealand is still more unsatisfactory than that of the native 

 birds. Several " acclimatization " societies import birds 

 fi'om various countries, chiefly Australia, of which they do 

 not know even the proper names, and still less whether they 

 are likely to prove useful or may not rather become a nuisance, 

 as have the Mainas in Honolulu. On the steamer in which 

 I arrived from Melbourne was a large consignment of birds 

 from Australia, such as Plyctolophus roseicapillus, Platycercus 

 eximius, Psephotus, several kinds of Grass-Finches, "Mag- 

 pies " {Cracticus and Gyninorhina) , and others, which were im- 

 ported by a society in Dunedin, and were to be liberated in the 

 environs of that city. Among the European birds which I 

 observed often in New Zealand were House- Sparrows, Sky- 

 larks, Greenfinches, Chafiinches, Goldfinches, Starlings, 

 Blackbirds, and Hooks. The last-named species I found only 

 in the environs of Christchurch, the foregoing species nearly 



