Bururn.—fFurther Notes on the Ornithology of New Zealand. 205 
still breeding in the hollow of the famous tree at Omaruteangi, known all 
over the country as “ Putatieke."* The bird is accordingly regarded with 
some degree of superstitious reverence by the Arawa, who will not allow it 
to be wilfully destroyed. Those who have read Maori history will be familiar 
with the story of Ngatoroirangi and his sacred tiekes of Cuvier Island. 
Hence the proverb, ‘‘Manu mohio kei Reponga," commonly applied to a 
man wise in council, and used in the sense of our own proverbial saying 
** Old birds are not to be caught with chaff.” 
As the question of the specific value of Creadion cinereus is still un- 
settled, it may be mentioned here that Captain Mair, who has been familiar 
with the bird for years, has never seen one in the plumage of the so-called 
cinereus, supposed at present to be the immature state of C. carunculatus, If 
this form is in reality the young of the ordinary species, it is astonishing 
that it has never yet been met with in the North Island, although common 
enough in the South. 
Gravcosrs winsowr, Bonap.—Blue-wattled Crow. 
During the autumn months this bird is comparatively plentiful in the 
Mangorewa forest between Tauranga and Rotorua. The traveller at this 
season frequently meets with it hopping about along the road or among the 
bushy branches of Solanum on either side. 
There is a fine albino specimen in the Colonial Museum, obtained in the 
Rimutaka ranges and peat by Mr. G. Elliotte, who had it alive for 
several months. 
PorPHYRIO MELANOTUS, Temm.—Swamp-hen. 
I have before mentioned that the swamp-hen is one of those native species 
that increase with the progress of settlement. This is very noticeable 
in many of our farming districts. Captain Mair informs me that at 
Whangarei (north of Auckland), during a period of fifteen years—from 
1850 to 1865—he never saw one in that district. After that date they 
began to make their appearance, and now they are comparatively plentiful, 
being met with in flocks of twenty or thirty together. In the Lake district 
they are everywhere abundant. At the warm lake of Rotomahana several 
hundreds may be seen in a single flock. They build their nests on the 
silica terraces, not in groups or colonies, but singly and without much 
attempt at concealment. Captain Mair has found as many as fourteen 
eggs in one nest, and eleven in another. At Tokano (at the southern 
extremity of Lake Taupo) the natives snare thousands of them in June and 
* Putatieke: A renowned hinau tree in the Urewera ~ It is supposed to 
possess miraculous attributes. Sterile women visit it for the purpose of inducing 
= They clasp the tree in transport, and repeat rb incantations by way of 
invoking the atua. 
