52 



No. 2. — Circus Assimilis, Jard. 

 Kahu. 

 Harrier. 



One of the commonest of the larger birds met with on "the plains." From 

 its depredations on poultry of all kinds, game, etc., great numbers of this fine 

 Harrier are annually destroyed by means of the gun, poison, or the trap. 

 Over a lambing flock it may be frequently noticed soaring with wide circling 

 flight. On a weakly lamb its attack commences by picking out the eyes. 

 Birds it carefully plucks before it begins its meal. It is not an unusual 

 occurrence to find it with a young flapper, almost as neatly plucked as though 

 the work had been performed by the skilful hand of a poulterer. We found, 

 on one occasion, a good sized Shag which had been thus operated upon ; this 

 was in winter time (July), and shows it has sufficient strength and courage to 

 attack and destroy a bird of considerable size and power. Its favourite 

 building-place appears to be a low-lying situation amongst swamps, the margins 

 of lagoons, etc. The nest, built on the ground, is made of coarse grasses, such 

 as tohe-tohe, raised sometimes about a foot in height, rather flat on the top. We 

 have found it partly constructed with pieces of the thorny Discaria, and the 

 dead flower-stems of the large Aciphylla, above which prickly materials grass 

 has been carefully placed. The eggs, usually four in number, are white ; when 

 perforated, and held against the light, the interior shows a deep green ; length, 

 1 inch 11 lines, with a breadth of 1 inch 6 lines. 



A pair of these birds made use of the same nesting-place year after year, 

 amongst some strong tohe-tohe, close to the Ashburton River. We took from 

 this nest an egg, which had been entirely covered up with the materials which 

 had been brought to renovate the nest, at a period, subsequent to the breeding 

 time, at which this egg had been laid. 



From our memoranda, the months of November and December appear to 

 be the height of the breeding season ; it is found moulting in February ; 

 occasionally fine old specimens are met with, in which the whole plumage has 

 assumed quite a light tone of colour ; this is so conspicuous in some 

 individuals, that some collectors endeavour to persuade themselves that a new 

 species has been discovered. Perhaps the noiseless flight of this bird should 

 be noted. When swooping on its quarry, the clean long tarsi enables the 

 observer to see the action of the feet, the rapid contraction and expansion of 

 the toes, when striking at its prey ; should this prove too large, or too heavy, 

 to be swooped off at once, the Harrier will drag it a considerable distance, 

 apparently changing its hold frequently, accompanied with much noiseless 

 fluttering of the wings, each time it strikes out its sharply armed foot to 

 obtain a fresh grasp. To give some idea of the numbers of this hawk that 

 are annually destroyed, it may be mentioned, that on the Cheviot Hills 

 station, ten to twelve per day were frequently killed, and that it would be 

 within compass to reckon that upwards of 1,000 hawks per annum had been 

 thus accounted for during the last two or three years ; amongst these were a 

 few of the Falco N.Z. It will not create surprise to learn, that on this run 

 rats are most abundant. On a farm on the Halswell, as many as fifteen were 

 found poisoned in one morning. On another farm in this neighbourhood, 

 numbers have been trapped by the use of a common rat-gin fixed on the top of 

 a Ti palm. 



No. 7. — Halcyon vagans, Gray. 

 Kotare. 

 Kingfisher. 



One of our burrowing species. The tunnel-like hole, which forms the 

 approach to its nest, is found sometimes in a bank, and, perhaps, quite as often 



