66 



Having discovered that the canvas lining of the room 



days these birds were comparatively quiet, remaining stationary on their perch as soon as their 

 hunger was appeased. But they afterwards became more lively and active, indulging in play 

 with each other and seldom remaining more than a few moments in one position. I sent to the 

 woods for a small branched tree, and placed it in the centre of the room, the floor of which was 

 spread with sand and gravel. It was most interesting to watch these graceful birds hopping from 

 branch to branch, occasionally spreading the tail into a broad fan, displaying themselves in a 

 variety of natural attitudes and then meeting to caress each other with their ivory bills, uttering 

 at the same time a low affectionate twitter. They generally moved along the branches by a 

 succession of light hops after the manner of the Kokako {Glaucopis cinerea); and they often de- 

 scended to the floor, where their mode of progression was the same. They seemed never to tire 

 of probing and chiselling with their beaks. 



was pervious, they were incessantly piercing it, and tearing off* large strips of paper, till, in the 

 course of a few days, the walls were completely defaced. 



But what interested me most of all was the manner in which the birds assisted each other in 

 their search for food, because it appeared to explain the use, in the economy of nature, of the 

 difl'erently formed bills in the two sexes. To divert the birds, I introduced a log of decayed wood 

 infested with the huhu grub. They at once attacked it, carefully probing the softer parts with 

 their bills, and then vigorously assailing them, scooping out the decayed wood till the larva or 

 pupa was visible, when it was carefully drawn from its cell, treated in the way described above, 

 and then swallowed. The very different development of the mandibles in the two sexes enabled 

 them to perform separate offices. The male always attacked the more decayed portions of the 

 wood, chiselling out his prey after the manner of some Woodpeckers, while the female probed 

 with her long pliant bill the other cells, where the hardness of the surrounding parts resisted the 

 chisel of her mate. Sometimes I observed the male remove the decayed portion without beino* 

 able to reach the grub, when the female would at once come to his aid, and accomplish with her 

 long slender bill what he had failed to do. I noticed, however, that the female always appro- 

 priated to her own use the morsels thus obtained. 



For some days they refused to eat any thing but huhu ; but by degrees they yielded to a 

 change of food, and at length would eat cooked potato, boiled rice, and raw meat minced up in 

 small pieces. They were kept supplied with a dish of fresh water, but seldom washed themselves, 

 although often repairing to the vessel to drink. Their ordinary call was a soft and clear whistle, 

 at first prolonged, then short and quickly repeated, both birds joining in it. When excited or 

 hungry, they raised their whistling note to a high pitch ; at other times it was softly modulated, 

 with variations, or changed into a low chuckling note. Sometimes their cry resembled the 

 whining of young puppies so exactly as almost to defy detection. 



Dr. Dieffenbach, in forwarding his specimens of the Huia to Mr ^ ^^^ 



'' These fine birds can only be obtained with the help of a native, who calls them with a shrill 

 and long-continued whistle resembling the sound of the native name of the species. After an 

 extensive journey in the hilly forest in search of them, I had at last the pleasure of seeino- four 

 alight on the lower branches of the trees near which the native accompanying me stood. They 

 came quick as lightning, descending from branch to branch, spreading out the tail and throwing 

 up the wings." I have only had a single opportunity of observing this species in its native 









V 





and 



the ^-^^'l 

 Buahine ran. 



densely ^oo^ 

 a steep accU^ 



Huia in the " 

 caU, and in ^ 



near us. 



Tb 



i 



Waiting till 

 snapped, and 

 of some thret 

 the dampneg 

 observed thn' 

 While in mc 

 partially spr 

 lower jaw. 

 "We can 



soon after da 

 of the call, a 

 climbed the 

 He was perc 

 large pieces « 

 guided us to 

 to be an old 



several 



y^ 



<Kk > 



age. 



leading to 1 

 decayed timl 

 truthfully d. 



development 



The si 

 '^^'ier the b 



^o^-ered see(- 

 I^ieffenbf 



ipterou 



Of the ■ 



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ach 



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^°^^"g birds 

 ^^^^■^vhite •• 

 The he. 



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