210 TALKS ABOUT BIRDS 



to the great surprise of every one. Even the 

 native Maoris, who were good naturalists, 

 and had a name for every native bird, called 

 this one simply " the stranger," and thought it 

 came from some other country. 



It was most noticed in the North Island of 

 New Zealand, but disappeared from there for 

 a couple of years; then for four years the 

 little birds travelled between the north and 

 south islands, nesting in the southern island, 

 and going to the northern one, which, of course, 

 according to the rule in the southern half of 

 the world, has a warmer climate, for the 

 winter. It then occurred to some of them 

 that they might as well stay in the north island 

 altogether, and since then they have spread 

 all over both islands, and are now the com- 

 monest of birds in New Zealand, except our 

 old friend the sparrow, which, however, only 

 got there by our assistance. 



There seems to be good reason for thinking 

 that the little silver-eyes did not come all 

 the hundreds of miles from Australia, but 

 that they had been living in parts of the 

 South Island in small numbers all along ; but 

 even if this is so, they have been wonderful 



