VOCAL CHARACTERISTICS OF SOME N.Z. BIRDS 365 



the Lawrence, a pair of bush hawks {Nesierax australis) assailed 

 one of my sons and myself for a space of two hours, whilst in the 

 neighbourhood of their young; then the usually swiftly uttered 

 "kli, kli, kli, kli" was even more rapidly sounded, whiLst its 

 tones were savage and threatening. The young at the time were 

 able to fly some little distance, yet only one moved once, that we 

 could observe, from the instant the note of alarm was given. The 

 bronze-winged cuckoo or whistler {Chalcococcyx) always makes 

 known his presence with an oft repeated whistle; the long-tailed 

 koekoea announces his arrival with deep-breathed note ; these love 

 calls are unlike all others of our bird sounds. The wild scream of 

 the weka tells us of his whereabouts from a considerable distance ; 

 and this most confident of rails is as noisy by night as, it is by 

 day. When sitting still in the forest, I have seen a weka silently 

 approach, and give notice of my presence by a strange note, 

 which, although delivered within a few feet of where I was 

 sitting, sounded like wood being struck at a great distance off. 



The remarkable notes of the owls must not be passed over 

 silently ; for the name at least, if not the appearance, of the 

 morepork {Ninox novae-zealandiae) is well known throughout the 

 colony. Australian settlers distinguish a Podargus by a similar 

 name, whence the colonial epithet (whether of New Zealand or 

 Australian origin is uncertain) applied to a dawdling person, who 

 is often described as "a regular old morepork." The call of the 

 whekau {S. alhifacies) is vociferous, wild, often startling from 

 their heavy slumbers the inmates of the mountain huts. Probably 

 the clamour of this geinis, like that of Falco, is a means of 

 startling some of their prey into motion. The large owl is said to 

 have likewise a call somewhat similar to the morepork, but much 

 more gruff in tone. Laughing jackass is one of the names 

 conferred on the whekau; this distinction is shared by an 

 Australian bird as well as by some of our sea birds amongst the 

 petrels or FroccJlaridac. 



When the south-east wind blows on our east coast, bringing with 

 it thick hazy weather, when curling mists drift up the harbours 

 and hide away in their vaporous mantles hill and mountain, 

 shearing the landscape of its fair proportions, the curious note of 



