6o Bird Sanctuaries of Neiu Zealand. | ^^^ "q^^ 



reports, would look for it. And Mr. Henry's chat about the 

 birds which are in his charge, and have become, in some in- 

 stances, his pets and friends, is so homely, so sympathetic, 

 shows so much of close and loving observation, that something 

 material to the literature of Nature in New Zealand would have 

 been lost had the notes not been published. 



The wingless birds that are being given sanctuary on Resolu- 

 tion Island are the Weka or Wood-Hen (Ocydromus australis), 

 the Kakapo or Great Ground-Parrot (Stringops hahroptilus), 

 the Roa (Apteryx haasti), and the Kiwi or Apteryx (Ap/cryx 

 oweni). In addition to these, which are his special charge, Mr. 

 Henry writes of all the birds which are either native to or visit 

 the island. It is the wingless ones, however, that are of chief 

 interest. Had New Zealand possessed amongst its native fauna 

 any destructive animals, such as the Australian dingo or the 

 Tasmanian devil, these birds would have been extinct long ago. 

 In settled country both dogs and cats play havoc with them, 

 and the English weasel, which, as Mr. Henry observes, would 

 never have been introduced had its habits been known thoroughly, 

 is also destructive. When rabbits became such a nuisance that 

 poisoned wheat was laid for them, some of the wingless birds 

 were killed in thousands, like the English Pheasants, which 

 had been so successfully acclimatised. In many of the public 

 reserves of 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 underwood 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 look-out for table scraps, and 

 share the contents of the dog's dish without 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 tmie the first egg is laid until the young — 

 which look like balls of soft down — are able to protect them- 

 selves. This care is the more necessary as both the eggs and young 

 are destroyed by rats, weasels, and Sparrow-Hawks. Sometimes, 

 of an evening, when the tide is low, the Wood-Hens take their 

 families out on the beaches, and the Sparrow-Hawks watch for 

 them there, and kill the young by scores. The Weka is, in its 

 turn, destructive. Paradise Ducks {Casarca variegata), 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 hereditary 

 knowledge of the trick, and a young bird, which 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 un- 

 covered, they always go through the motions of tearing away 

 the nest before starting to eat the eggs. Although on friendly 

 terms with the caretaker, they hide their own nests away from 



