214 



TUTIRA 



Young Grey Duck. 



race 

 first 

 are 



about the strips fenced to keep stock from danger, there will always be 

 sufficient food and cover for a few of these birds. 



Of water birds, the Grey Duck (Anas superciliosa) is not suited by 

 the conditions of Tutira and has never been plentiful ; 20,000 acres, 



however, is a big bit of ground, and the 

 surface of the lake will always attract 

 flights, of which a few pair will remain 

 to breed, chiefly about the open reaches 

 of the Waikoau. 



The future of the Widgeon or Scaup 

 (Fuligula NOVCB ZealandicB) is less easy 

 to forecast. Of the two vital factors in 



maintenance, food-supply and nesting accommodation, the 

 at any rate is secure, for the feeding-grounds of the Scaup 

 the lake bottoms. Whatever other surfaces have been tampered 

 with, that one at any rate has remained, and will always remain, 

 intact; but whilst there will continue to be a superabundance of 

 food, and whilst female birds will continue to be capable of laying 

 large numbers of eggs, another danger threatens the Scaup the 

 loss of nesting-sites. No ordinary covert will suffice this pernickety 

 species, the nest must be hidden beneath many seasons' accumula- 

 tion of rotting flax-blades. The 

 Scaup, furthermore, never breeds 

 except by the water's edge. Such 

 particularity militates against the 

 species, and is likely to do so in an 

 increasing degree, since flax fibre in 

 a dry season is excessively inflam- 

 mable, and the plant is being fast 

 destroyed by cattle. The 'case is 

 interesting as an example of how 

 a breed with ample feeding-grounds 

 may decay in numbers solely and 

 entirely from want of the particular 

 cover required for nesting purposes ; his prejudices in regard to housing 

 accommodation will be his undoing if indeed he disappears. 



Another lake bird to whom the future is secure is the Little Grebe 

 (Podiceps rujlpectus), whose nest is practically undiscoverable, and whose 

 ample food-supply rests secure, like that of the Scaup, on the lake bottom. 



Tut on nest on tree- top. 



