420 BIRD SANCTUARIES OF NEW ZEALAND. 



New Zealand, such as the charming gardens at New Plymouth, one 

 can hear the pheasant calling constantly in the brush, and it is this 

 thick native iniderwood which gave originally complete protection 

 to the wingless birds. 



The weka, or wood hen, is evidently one of the most interesting of 

 the residents on Resolution Island. The quaint ways and quick 

 sagacity of two of them, " Chicken " and " Scrag," who visit the 

 caretaker's house on the lookout for table scraps, and share the con- 

 tents of the dog's dish Avithout risk, are amusingly described. These 

 birds mate for life, and take turn about in hatching and protecting 

 the brood. One of them is never absent from the nest from the time 

 the first egg is laid until the j^oung, which look like balls of soft 

 down, are able to protect themselves. This care is the more neces- 

 sary, as both the eggs and young are destroyed b}^ rats, Aveasels, and 

 sparrow hawks. Sometimes, of an evening, when the tide is low, 

 the wood hens take their families out on the beaches, and the spar- 

 row hawks watch for them there and kill the young by scores. The 

 weka is, in its turn, destructive. Paradise ducks {Casarca I'ariegata) , 

 like the wild ducks of Australia, cover up their eggs carefully with a 

 mat of down when leaving the nest, but the wekas have an heredi- 

 tary knowledge of the trick, and a young bird, Avhich has never seen 

 a duck's nest, tears away the down to get at the eggs the moment it 

 discovers one. If they find a hen"s nest with the eggs uncovered, 

 they always go through the motions of tearing away the nest before 

 starting to eat the eggs. Although on friendly terms with the care- 

 taker, they hide their own nests away from him A'ery carefully, and, 

 if one of the pair comes to the house for scraps for its mate, it always 

 takes a roundabout track to the nest, and is careful to see that it is 

 neither watched nor followed. They kill each other's young, so that 

 every pair on the island has its oAvn run, and no others are allowed 

 to intrude. Mr. Henry considers these birds most valuable as insect 

 destroyers in an orchard, and observes that, if they were difficult to 

 get, fruit growers Avould be quite keen about them. On the table- 

 land above the Otira Gorge, when crossing from the Avest coast, one 

 often sees the Aveka and her brood running along the track in front 

 of the coach. When the first brood Inn^e been hatched and are fairly 

 groAvn, the hen hands them oA'er to her mate and starts to lay again. 

 The male sbejiherds the J^oung persistently, apparently giA'es them 

 all the food he can find, and if they call for help in danger he is Avith 

 them in an instant, keen for a fight. A^Tien he finds a rat he tackles 

 it instanth', though not strong enough to kill it single handed. The 

 squeaking of the rat is a signal to another Aveka, Avho rushes up and 

 helps to kill the enemy. 



It is surmised that the kaka{)o, or great ground parrot — the only 

 parrot which does not fly — had once the use of its wings. Finding in 



