916 Transactions.—Z oology. 
almost no kakas, and they have never been so numerous since. I have 
often tried to account for this sudden increase and as sudden decrease, but 
have only succeeded in making guesses which were dismissed almost as soon 
as discussed. On the east coast of the province it may be said this parrot 
has all but disappeared now; I have not seen one alive for years. Mr. 
Murison writes me :—‘‘ The beginning of 1861 was the greatest season for 
kakas I ever knew. I was then living in the Waikouaiti district, and for a 
time the birds became quite a pest to the settlers. They have not made 
their appearance in numbers since." 
The beautiful New Zealand pigeon (Carpophaga nove-zealandia ) is a bird 
which we must all regret has almost passed away. It is rare, indeed, to 
see it anywhere even in places which used to be its favourite haunt. The 
patches of low evergreen bush in which the fuchsia tree flourishes, near 
Dunedin and along the seaboard, were the places where the pigeon loved to 
dwell, and where they could always be obtained in the early days. No 
settler then need ever want for a rich supper, and the poor pigeons were 
slaughtered somewhat indiscriminately. It used to be a common recipe 
amongst early settlers, that it took fourteen pigeons and one kaka parrot to 
make good soup. After making every allowance, however, for this whole- 
sale slaughter, I am inclined to think that it does not wholly account for 
the almost total disapperaance of the pigeon. Naturalists are aware that 
though the order Columbe is cosmopolitan in its range, yet the Australian 
region is richer in it than any other zoological area in the world, possessing 
nearly double the genera and species of any other region. This is accounted 
for by the fact that it is, to a large extent, an insular region, and has no 
monkeys or other arboreal quadrupeds which feed largely on eggs or young 
birds, the pigeon being a bird that builds a rude exposed nest, and whose 
young remain defenceless for along time. This, I think, gives us the key 
to the disappearauce of our pigeon, viz., that it is to the great increase in 
domestie and wild eats that we are indebted in a large measure for the 
change. 
The quail ( Coturnia nove-zealandie) is another native bird, extremely 
plentiful in the open grass lands in the early days, but now so rare as to be 
valuable as a museum specimen. It is really difficult now to realize how 
plentiful these birds were. You could not walk far in the country, especially 
if you had a dog at your foot, without raising one here and another there. 
Dogs seemed to take to hunting them naturaly, and made sad havoc 
amongst them, for they could not at any time fly far. Shepherds and 
.. flockmasters found it a very difficult thing to train young sheep-dogs 
- aright, for in spite of no end of thrashing, when a young dog was sent out 
= lier sheep the E was too great for him, and “he would go 
