Imligcnous Birds in the Nciv Zealand Forests. i^c) 



trunk, limbs, and summits, with flexible lianas and other 

 parasitical creepers, while birds of the strangest descriptions 

 were flitting hither and thither among the trees, alarmed 

 by the tramp of our horses, which echoed strangely loud 

 througli the silent depths of the forest. The most frequently 

 visible of these feathered denizens of the forest is the Tui 

 {Prostemadera novce Zelandice)^ called ' the parson ' by Captain 

 Cook, in consequence of its having two white feathers in 

 the lower part of its neck resembling bands. In colour and 

 shape it is very like the kingfisher, and its melodious 

 notes present great variety. In addition to tlie Tui, the 

 forest is frequented by the Kakariki (Platjjcercus N. Z.), a 

 small green parrot, which, stealing softly through the mys- 

 terious gi'eenwood shade, emits its singular shrill shriek. We 

 also fell in with a solitary specimen of the New Zealand 

 cuckoo {Endynamys Tditensis), called by the natives Koekoea, 

 which was eagerly bagged by the zoologists. 



" After riding half an hour into the forest we came to Rama- 

 Rama, a settlement founded about three months previously 

 by a rich English colonist. About 70 acres English were 

 already reclaimed, and in some parts of this patch of land, so 

 lately arrested from the wilderness, peas, turnips, beans, po- 

 tatoes, and other kitchen vegetables were already peering 

 above the surface. Two small huts, constructed of the stem 

 of the tree fern, and thatched with reeds, had been extem- 

 porized as kitchen and sleeping apartment for the occupier - 

 of the soil, a highly-educated, well-informed, gentlemanly 



