^°'iyl?"] OLI\'ER, nirds of Little lUirncr Island. 45 



The Birds of Little Barrier Island, N.Z. 



By W. k. 15. OLIN'KR, i^.L.^., F.Z.S., R.A.O.L'., Dominion 

 Museum, Wellington, Xew Zealand. 



The Go\ernment of Xew Zealand has wisely set aside for the 

 preservation of the indigenous birds of that country three 

 wooded islands each of considerable size and with mountainous 

 features. Little Barrier Island is situated near the northern, 

 Resolution Island near the southern extremity, and Kai)iti Island 

 near the middle of the Dominion. Each is eminently suited to 

 bush birds; and this is all that is recjuired of an island sanctuary, 

 for shore and open country birds are mostly wanderers, and 

 could not be depended (ju to reside permanently in a small area. 

 One has only to visit one of these sanctuaries to realise the suc- 

 cess which has followed the protection aiiforded. Birds which 

 are rare or even quite extinct on the mainland are on Little Bar- 

 rier Island abundant and ciuite fearless of the visitor. From 

 early dawn to dusk the forest rings with their songs. Happiness 

 and i)rosperity seem to reign everywhere. Yet the bird life is not 

 without its tragedies. Life may be easy for most, but a toll is 

 taken by Harriers, which ])ay visits from the mainland, by a few- 

 resident Bush Hawks, and, worst of all, by some cats introduced 

 by former settlers and now reverted to a semi-wild state. 



Little Barrier Island originally belonged to a Maori tribe, from 

 whom it was acquired by the Government for the purpose of a 

 bird sanctuary. "xVfter considerable dit^culty and many vexa- 

 tious legal delays, the Crown at last obtained peaceable possession 

 of the island of Hauturu, or Little Barrier. This, however, was 

 not carried out without the help of the Permanent Force, and 

 the residence on the island for some months of one of the tor- 

 pedo-men, and exentually the removal by a specially chartered 

 \essel of all the live-stock on the island claimed by the Maoris."* 



Little Barrier Island lies some fifteen miles due east of Rodney 

 Point. Its length from north to south is given as 4i miles; its 

 breadth from east to west as 3i miles. With the exception of 

 a boulder flat on the south-west side, the whole surface is rough 

 and mountainous, and densely covered with vegetation. A boulder 

 beach surrounds the island, making the landing workable only 

 on the leeward side or in fine w^eather. \^iewed from the sea it 

 presents the appearance of a truncated cone, and, knowing its 

 volcanic origin, one would expect to find a crater. But the island 

 is a deeply dissected pile of fragmentary rocks, and a distinct 

 crater cannot be recognised, though j)robably occupying the head 

 of Weka Gully, immediately under the .south-east side of Mt. 

 Archeria. The main feature of the island consists of two high 

 sinuous ridges forming an irregular T. One of these runs from 

 Ngatamahine Point in the north along the east side of the island 



*Appendix to Journals of House of Representatives, 1897. CI, p. 124. 



