45 



varieties " found its way into the National Collection of Great Britain, or into 

 one of the great continental museums, it would have been honoured with all 

 the distinctions of a good and true species ! 



12. Nestor meridionalis, Gmelin. 



Dr. Finsch describes in graphic terms the delight with which he gazed 

 upon a live Kaka i^Nestor meridionalis), in the Zoological Society's Gardens, 

 London, and speculates on the speedy extinction of the species ; and Mr. Goiild, 

 in the Appendix to his Hand-hooJc to the Birds of Australia (p. 549), exjDresses 

 a hope that some of the residents of New Zealand will " study and record the 

 habits and economy of this bird before it be extirpated, and its name and a 

 few stuffed skins alone left as an evidence of its once having existed." 

 Although it cannot be denied that the Kaka is less common than it formerly 

 was, it still exists in very considerable numbers in various parts of the 

 country, and there. is no present danger of the species becoming extinct. In 

 the months of December and January, when the rata [Metrosideros rohusta) 

 is in flower, thousands of these birds are trapped by the natives, and preserved 

 in their own fat for winter use. Partly owing to this cause, and partly to the 

 extension of settlement, it is true that in some districts where in former years 

 they were excessively abundant, their cry is now seldom or never heard ; but 

 in the wooded districts of the interior they are as plentiful as ever. 



The cause of the rapid disappearance in these Islands of some species of 

 birds, and absolute extinction of others, is a very interesting question. In a 

 newly-colonized country, where the old fauna and flora are being invaded by a 

 host of foreign immigrants, vaiious natural agencies are brought into play to 

 check the progress of the indigenous species, and to supplant them by new and 

 more enduring forms, more especially in the case of insular areas of compara- 

 tively small extent. These agencies are often too subtle in their operation to 

 arrest the notice of the ordinary observer, and it is only the ultimate results 

 that command his attention and wonder. But in New Zealand some special 

 cause, apart from this general law, must be assigned for the alarmingly rapid 

 decrease of many of the indigenous birds. In the course of a very few years, 

 species, formerly common in every grove, have become so scai-ce throughout 

 the country as to threaten their extinction at no very distant date. 



Various reasons have been suggested to account for this. The natives 

 believe that the imported bee, which has become naturalized in the woods, is 

 displacing the kaka, tui, and other honey-eating birds. One of the oldest 

 settlers in the Hokianga District (Judge Maning), speaking to me on this 

 subject said, — " I remember the time, not very long ago, when the Maori lads 

 would come out of the woods with hundreds of korimakos hung around them 

 in strings, now one scarcely ever hears the bird; formerly they swarmed in 

 the northern woods by thousands, now they are well-nigh extinct." On 



