42 



nest builders, whilst some members of that restless, wary family make no 

 attempt to provide artificial protection for their offspring, the young, warmly 

 clothed with down, appear quite equal to the occasion, and accompany their 

 parents with liveliness and activity. Amongst the Sternidse and Laridse, 

 instances may be cited, showing equal indifference in providing shelter for 

 their young ; yet, it should be remarked, in these cases the young appear quite 

 incapable of shifting for themselves, and must depend on the industry of the 

 old birds for bringing their food supply to them for several weeks. Here the 

 parental instinct is shown in the selection of the breeding place, the eggs being 

 deposited on the shore of the fishing ground, from whence the food supply of 

 the future family is to be procured ; but they have fewer mouths to feed, as 

 they ^seldom lay more than one or two eggs (L. Scopulinus, S. Longipennis). 

 Now, if we turn, for the sake of comparison, to the incessorial genera, denizens of 

 the bush, we shall find the callow nestling equally as helpless as the young in 

 the case of the natatorial birds : but as they number many individuals to each 

 nest, the tax on the energy of the old birds to supply the requisite amount of 

 food, must cause, pro tanto, so much the greater labour, unless, indeed, the 

 warmth of numbers closely packed in a well-built nest, should render a some- 

 what less abundant supply of food sufficient, than would be required to support 

 and rear the exposed broods of the aquatic birds before mentioned. 



Some of the Grallatorpe and Anatidse are remarkable for the extraordinary 

 efforts they make when endeavouring to allure the unwelcome intruder from 

 the immediate neighbourhood of their eggs or young. They will assume 

 lameness, flutter with drooping wing, or drop with a dismal cry into the simulated 

 agony of a death struggle to mislead the wayfarer, but when their artifice has 

 succeeded in enticing him to follow till a safe distance from their precious 

 charge is reached, " they clap their well -fledged wings and bear away," leaving 

 the astonished beholder to meditate on the folly of trusting to appearances. 



Amongst the troglodytal birds (such as Nestor, Platycercus, etc.) white is 

 the usual colour of the eggs, doubtless as a provision to render their position 

 more readily seen in the dim twilight of the breeding place, consequently to be 

 approached and inciibated with less danger of accident. It is, however, 

 amongst the ground-breeders that the colouring of the eggs elicits the admiration 

 of the careful observer ; in some instances (such as Anarynchus frontalis) so won- 

 derfully does the colouring of the eggs harmonize with the prevailing tone of the 

 ground on which they are deposited, that accident only would disclose their 

 presence to the casual wanderer, besides the instance just given, II 

 Longirostris, L. Scopulinus, afford noteworthy examples of this peculiar 

 property which offers such a reliable safeguard against the plundering 

 propensities of bipeds, whether feathered or not. 



The rapid diminution in the numbers of our birds (with the exception of a 

 very few varieties, of which Zoster ops lateralis is the most noticeable instance) 

 must be apparent to everyone who has given the slightest consideration to the 

 subject, it is a matter of deep regret that, in all probability, many species will 

 have become extinct ere their habits can be sufficiently studied by- the 

 naturalist for their use, economy, and position in our Fauna to be correctly 

 ascertained. To the future student of the natural history of our country, 

 vague, unreliable traditions, a conflicting nomenclature, and the contorted 

 productions of the taxidermist mounted in acrobatic and weird-like attitudes, 

 will perhaps alone remain to fill up the hiatus. How far should we now have 

 to travel to discover a bevy of Quail, in the seclusion of some very remote 

 valley of the " back country," a straggler or two might be met with. Yet by 

 referring to the " New Zealand Handbook," it may be noted that the large 

 island in Port Cooper was named after this bird, from the number of Quail 

 flushed there. The beautiful little Rails are now almost as scarce ; in how few 



