CHAP. II.] SHIP COVE. 29 



walking he seldom spoke, except to relate, in broken 

 English, tales of terrible animals, or divinities, 

 which we should meet with on the summit of the 

 mountain, and which would inevitably devour the 

 poor maori (native), but could do no injury to the 

 pakea (stranger). It appeared to me that he was 

 sounding my belief in things about the existence of 

 which he was not quite certain himself, and wanted 

 to deter me from ascending to the summit. 



In the lower regions the forest was much enlivened 

 by birds. I shot some parrots, 1 pigeons, 2 and wattle- 

 birds. 3 Among the branches of the trees hopped 

 the neat fantail flycatcher, 4 and a social bird of a 

 yellow colour, which has been depicted by Forster, 5 

 and which had much the habits of the finch. But 

 these birds were the only beings of the animal king- 

 dom I could perceive : I did not even see an insect. 

 The smaller birds have a touching confidence, and 

 came so near me that I could almost have seized 

 them with the hand. 



On the summit the silence was still deeper, and 

 the white-breasted motacilla longipes (Pitoitoi) 

 alone was heard pursuing its search from branch to 

 branch after small dipterous insects. There was 

 snow on the summit, and the thermometer stood at 

 41 Fahrenheit. The whole mountain was covered 

 with vegetable earth. But I ascertained that the 



Nestor meridionalis : Kaka of the natives. 

 Columba spadicea, Lath. Kukupa. 

 Glaucopis cinerea, Gmel. Kokako. 

 Muscicapa flabellifera, GmL Phvakawaka. 

 Orthornyx heteroclytus, Lef. Popokatea. 



