4 M'l.v.\-i, Bush-Birds of New Zealand. [ .st July 



down and was deposited along this length. Near the base of 

 this valley, half a mile beyond the spot mentioned, the great 

 rimus and ratas have been removed for a distance of lOO feet 

 up each side of the gully, and birches from near the high top now 

 lie a couple of miles down the creek. The growth in the fore- 

 ground is therefore recent, and the main heavy bush can be seen 

 beyond. Maunga-Haumia's highest part lies about a mile directly 

 behind the distant hill, which is 3,500 feet high. 



It was this open valley which gave the writer the opportunity 

 of seeing so much more of the bold little Bush-Hawk and its work 

 than could possibly have been observed in the depth of heavy 

 bush. Below the bare rocky face exposed by the slip was also 

 open and in grass, but as one descended the slopes became 

 sprinkled with short koromiko {Veronica salicifolia) and an odd 

 puka (Griselinca littoralis ?), or " broad-leaf " ; but further down the 

 vegetation increased in size and variety until at last it became the 

 most difficult scrubby bush that I have ever tried to force my 

 way through. This scrub of rangiora {Br achy glottis rangiora), 

 puka, koromiko, coprosma, and wineberry {Aristotelia racemosa), 

 about 10 or 12 feet in length, was all bent horizontally by the 

 winter snows, and so interlaced and held together by lawyers 

 {Rubus) as to be for the most part impenetrable. Still, it was a 

 great place for birds, such as the Whitehead, Pied Tit, Bell-Bird, 

 and Crow. Above the face was a low forest of stunted and twisted 

 birch, puka, white-wood, and fuchsia, with no undergrowth, 

 but a beautiful soft carpet of that handsome sub-alpine fern, 

 Todea siiperba. Mist was rarely absent from this top, and the 

 moss grew in such profusion on the trunks that a 3-inch limb 

 appeared at least 12 inches through. Here the Rifleman was in 

 its element. The summit had been felled many years before to 

 clear the "trig.," and over the prostrate birch and puka grew a 

 dense scrub of 6-foot Schefflera digitata — the " five-finger tree " 

 — whose berries, in a slightly lower altitude, were useful, in late 

 winter, to the Pigeon and other birds. With the exception of 

 the Rifleman, no birds were seen about the " trig." 



To the south of this hill the bush was heavy, especially near 

 the Urukokomoko stream, tawa, with many miro, rimu, and 

 rata {Metrosideros rohusta), predominating, while supplejack and 

 lawyer-vines, together with numerous shrubs, made the under- 

 growth. Except on the tops of the narrow ridges, there was, 

 on this southern side, but little birch, but tawari was fairly plenti- 

 ful in parts. However, the latter did not fruit in anything like 

 the same profusion that it did in 1906, so that Kakas and Parra- 

 keets did not appear in any numbers. This irregularity in 

 fruiting of New Zealand trees is a great factor in the distribution 

 of certain nativ^e birds, and leads to errors of judgment when 

 dealing with the apparent increase or decrease of a species. As 

 was to be expected from the character of this southern bush, 

 the Robin was not met with in 1907. 



I was informed by Australian bushmen who were felling here 



