THE WOOD HENS 185 



powerful bills- to feed the young. If encouraged about home- 

 steads, they are heard durmg the night tapping on the walls of 

 dwellings and outhouses, pecking off the spiders and insects 

 secreted there. When bags or sheepskins are found lying on the 

 ground, they drag them away or turn them over to procure the 

 worms, beetles, or woodlice hidden beneath. Occasionally, during 

 their nocturnal rambles, they discover the carcase of a sheep, and 

 commence pulling olf the wool until they effect an opening in the 

 flesh. Here they fare sumptuously for weeks, often secreting- 

 themselves in the nearest cover, and returning night after night 



Nest of South Island Wood Hpu. 



to feed on the carcase. They are also death to rats and mice, and 

 help in the destruction of young rabbits. When enclosed in small 

 yards, they become tamer than domestic fowls, thrusting their 

 heads through the meshes of the Avire and feeding from the 

 hand." 



Islv. Smith, in 1885, endeavoured to procure hybrids between 

 the weka and the domestic game fowls, and so settle the question 

 of crossing. He raised a nest of young wekas with one domestic 

 well-bred game cock. He was not successful in attaining his 

 object, and indeed it is almost impossible that birds belonging to 

 different orders should breed together. One bird laid for the first 



