Auchland Institute. 617 



Fifth Meeting : 4th August, 1890. 



James Stewart, C.E., President, in the chair. 



Neio Members. — H. Brown, W. Davies, P. L. Dignan, 

 J. P. Macarthur, H. Thomson. 



Papers'.- — -1. " On the Microscopical Structm-e of Ohine- 

 mm'i Gold," by Dr. Kudolf Haeusler. (Transactions, p. 335.) 



2. " Note on the Habits of tlie Kingfisher {Halcyon 

 ■vagans)," by J. W. Hall. 



Abstract. 

 The author raised the question, Is it customary for the king- 

 fisher to capture live birds ? Because this winter he had seen one 

 with a live white-ej'e in its mouth. The tree the kingfisher was 

 perched upon was not many yards distant from him, and he distinctly 

 saw the little wings flutter convulsively as the kingfisher was preparing 

 to beat its prey against the branch. So it could not have been a 

 dead bird casually XDicked up. Perhaps this, ho said, was an applica- 

 tion of the lex talionis, for, besides being mercilessly persecuted by the 

 small boys v/ith their catapults, tlie kingfisher was not infrequently cap- 

 tured by the common hawk. But sometimes the hawk does not come off 

 best. One day at Parawai (Thames) a hawk sailed round the bend of a 

 hill, followed (accidentally, he supposed) by a kinglisher. There at once 

 arose a great outcry, and the hawk came again in sight, bearing the king- 

 fisher in its talons. But, nothing daunted, the kingfisher with its pick- 

 axe of a bill pegged away at the breast and abdomen of its captor to 

 such good effect that the hawk was glad to liberate its prey, whereupon 

 the kingfisher flew away apparently but little the worse for the encounter, 

 and carrying with it, he need hardly say, the full sympathy of the on- 

 lookers. A friend of the author had seen a kingfisher dive under water 

 to escape the pursuit of a hawk. 



8. " Takahe versus Kakapo;" a reply to Mr. Melland's 

 paper in vol. xxii.. Transactions N.Z. Institute, by Jas. Park, 

 F.G.S. {Transactions, p. 112.) 



A discussion arose, the speakers considering that, whatever may have 

 been the origin of the booming noise attributed by Mr. Park to the 

 Notornis, Mr. Jlelland was hardly justified in assigning it so confidently 

 to the kakapo. 



4. "On the Birds of the Kermadec Islands," by T. F. 

 Cheeseman, F.L.S. {Transactions, p. 216.) 



In illustration of his paper, the author exhibited numerous skins 

 and eggs of the species mentioned, collected by Mr. Bell, Captain Pair- 

 child, and himself. 



5. " The Age of Pulp : a Speculation on the Future of the 

 Wood-fibre Industry," by the Pv,ev. P. Walsh. {Transactions, 

 p. 528.) 



Sixth ]\rEETiNG : ISth Augud, ISOO. 



James Stewart, C.E., President, in the chair. 



Professor F. D. Brown gave a popular lecture on "John 

 Dalton and his Work." 



