PEEFACE 



I found, too, that he was gifted with the 

 most imperturbable of tempers, "a stoic of the 

 woods, a man without a tear. ' ' 



No gales that kept us from work could ruffle 

 him. The misfortunes that happened to our 

 nestlings, nests, and eggs, he could accept with 

 a patience impossible to emulate. 



He, too, was an enthusiast, and even waist 

 deep in water chilled with melted hail, with the 

 knowledge of a rotten bridge in front and a 

 rising river to swim, was still able to note the 

 discovery of a pair of Orange-Wattled Crows in 

 the flooded scrub. 



I acknowledge he beat me there. If I had 

 seen a Moa I should have let it pass, and was but 

 too glad to reach the hut, minus a boot lost in the 

 river, with one foot tied up in my sou-wester, 

 sans camera and gear, soaked with three swims, 

 and chattering with cold. 



Archdeacon Herbert Williams has kindly 

 read my proof sheets, and I should like specially 

 to record my gratitude to him for that noble 

 word retenuitestifectation. 



The prints from which the blocks have been 

 prepared are the work of Mr. G. F. Green, 

 who has taken more trouble and expended more 

 care on them than I myself, to whom they belong, 

 would have done. He has turned out work 

 incalculably better than anything I could have 

 shown, and has often proved that, in spite of the 

 proverb, a silk purse can be made out of a sow's 

 ear. I consider myself most fortunate in again 

 having been able to get his help. 



Mr. Green has also on my behalf in regard to 

 business matters ' wrestled,' if my friends, 



