82 G. Barnby Smith — Notes on New Zealand Birds


New Zealand Kingfisher quite lacks in form and colour the grace and

beauty of our English bird.


As to Hawks, the Harriers seemed hanging in the air almost every¬

where I went, and I was informed they did considerable damage, and

I fear are on the increase. Other Hawks appear to be quite rare. I do

not recall seeing a single specimen.


The Morepork Owl is the only owl common throughout the country.


The New Zealand Quail is now extinct, but imported Australian

Quail are found in some districts, though in small numbers. On the

other hand, the Californian Quail is very plentiful almost everywhere,

at any rate, in the North Island. I was much interested in watching

a pair of them with a brood of young on a road in the outskirts of Auck¬

land last November ; the cock bird, of course, an embodiment of

fussiness and with the usual distracted sense of parental responsibility.

The Quail is, I think, the only game bird of all those imported which is

really successfid at the present time. Partridges have been a dead

failure, and pheasants have “ gone back ” and become scarce in many

places where formerly plentiful. The reason is probably five-fold,

namely : (1) bush burning, (2) poison laid for rabbits, (3) poaching by

Maoris, (4) a plague of stoats, and (5) Harrier Hawks.


I never saw any Kiwis, nor had I an opportunity to undertake the

lengthy search in back country blocks, which the attempt to see any

would have entailed. From many inquiries, however, I came to the con¬

clusion that these birds are even now not so rare as is supposed, though,

of course, they are very seldom seen. The numbers that must be

destroyed by bush fires and stoats is, nevertheless, great. A friend

of mine, a farmer, spoke of it as being no uncommon occurrence for his

sheep-dog to kill Kiwis. The best way of catching them alive is by

a soft-mouthed retriever.


I was amazed to see in the New Plymouth district almost the

commonest bird was the Mynah. Whether they have come from “ the

islands ” on their own account, or have been artificially introduced,

I do not know. Sometimes they frequent a district, for a few years

and then all vanish. This was the case recently in a district near

Wellington, and the Mynahs were said to be driven out by the Starlings,

which sounds strange.



