18 



themselves a blessing by preying on and arresting tbe progress of that noxious 

 aphis known as " American blight " {Schizoneura lanigera). 



They remiained with us for three months, and then departed as suddenly as 

 they had come. They left before the orchard fruits, of which they are also 

 fond, had ripened, and having proved themselves real benefactors they earned 

 the gratitude of the settlers, while all the local newspapers sounded their well- 

 deserved praises. 



During the two years that followed, the Zosterops was never heard of again 

 in any part of the North Island; but in the winter of 18-58 it again crossed 

 the strait, and appeared in Wellington and its environs in greater numbers 

 than before. During the four succeeding years it regularly wintered with us, 

 recrossing the strait on the approach of spring. Since the year 1862, when it 

 commenced to breed with us, it has been a permanent resident in the North 

 Island, and from that time it continued to advance northwards. Mr. Colenso, 

 of Napier, repoi'ts that it was first seen at Ahuriri in 1862. On his journey 

 to Te Wairoa, in that year, he saw it at Aropauanui, and found its nest con- 

 taining four fledgelings. The natives of that place told him that it was a new 

 bird to them, they having first observed it there in the preceding year, 1861. 

 The Hon. Major Atkinson, on the occasion of a visit, as Defence Minister, to 

 the native tribes of the Upper Wanganui, in April, 1864, made enquiries on 

 the subject, and was informed by the natives that the Zosterops had appeared 

 in their district for the first time in 1863. 



As far as I can ascertain, they penetrated to Waikato in the following year, 

 and pushed their way as far as Auckland in 1865. Captain Hutton reports 

 that in the winter of 1867 they had spread all over the province, as far north 

 as the Bay of Islands, and in 1868 he writes, — "They are now in the most 

 northerly parts of this island." That they have continued to move on still 

 further northward would appear to be the case from the following interesting 

 notes by Mr. G. B. Owen, coramunicated to me by Captain Hutton : — " On 

 my passage from Tahiti to Auckland, per brig " Rita," about 300 miles north 

 of the North Cape of New Zealand, I saw one morning several little birds 

 flying abo\it the ship. From their twittering and manner of flying I concluded 

 that they were land birds, and they were easily caught. They were of a 

 brownish grey and yellowish colour, with a little white mark round the eye. 

 I saw several pass over the ship during the day, travelling northwards. 

 I arrived in Auckland a few days afterwards, on the 20th May, when the 

 so-called Blight Birds appeared here in such numbers, and I at once recognized 

 them as the same." 



This tendency of migration northwards appears to me quite inconsistent 

 with the idea of the species having come to us from Australia. 



Now let us ascertfin something of its recorded history in the South 

 Island. Mr. Potts, a most careful and experienced observer, writes to me : — 



