28 MUTTON BIRDS 



reminded me of nothing so much as when whilst 

 I have been angling, a sudden hatch of fly has 

 occurred in which the males outnumber the 

 females by a thousand to one. 



Many of the Kuaka burrows were really alive 

 with revelry, and must have entertained as many 

 visitors as that house on the walls of Jericho, 

 where for a night the spies lay hidden on the 

 roof. All night long the Kuaka were streaming 

 in and out of their holes, stealing over the sur- 

 face like rats, and like rats, too, when alarmed, 

 scuttling off in the half light along the ragged 

 paths but never even when pressed, rising to fly. 



There were a few birds doing a little 

 scratching, but most of the holes entered and 

 re-entered by Petrel were at this date untouched. 



Often a Kuaka would sit for long periods just 

 outside a burrow mouth, gazing, and I believe at 

 intervals singing into its cavernous depths, and 

 in this position the preoccupied little creatures 

 could be touched and even gently stroked. 



There were shallow hollows, too, outside the 

 burrows, evidently made by the birds' move- 

 ments in resting themselves and much less deep 

 than dusting holes. 



I noticed, too, that the Kuaka could flutter up 

 very steep surfaces and that in doing so both 

 wings and claws were used. The bole also of 

 every tree growing at an incline was scratched 

 and clawed and shewed plainly the marks of the 

 clambering of active birds. 



Although a few of the Kuaka, and a few of the 

 Parara, Titi Wainui, and Mutton Birds, either 

 alone or in couples holding the burrows, had 

 already paired, the vast bulk were still courting 

 and selecting holes for the coming season. In 



