46 



asking him his opinion as to the cause of this, he told me that he agreed with 

 the Maoris, that the bee having taken possession of the woods, has driven the 

 honey-eating birds away from the flowers, and practically starved them out ; 

 and he referred to the scarcity of the tui, another honey-eater, in support of 

 this view.* But it must be remembered that both of these species subsist 

 largely on berries and insects, and that the comparative failure of their honey 

 food, even if granted, will not of itself account for the rapid decrease of these 

 birds ; while, on the other hand, the totoara [Petroica alhifrons), and other 

 species which do not sip flowers, are becoming equally scarce. It appears to 

 me that the honey-bee theory is quite insuflicient to meet the case, and that 

 we must look fvirther for the real cause. As the result of long observation, I 

 have come to the conclusion that hitherto the chief agent in this rapid des- 

 truction of certain species of native birds has been the introduced rat. This 

 cosmopolitan joest swarms through every part of the country, and nothing- 

 escapes its voracity. It is very abundant in all oiir woods, and the wonder 

 rather is that any of our insessorial birds are able to rear their broods in safety. 

 Species that nest in hollow trees, or in other situations accessible to the ravages 

 of this little thief, are found to be decreasing, while other species whose nests 

 are, as a rule, more favourably placed, continue to exist in undiminished 

 numbers. As examples of this latter class, I may instance the kingfisher, 

 which usually scoops out a hole for its nest in the upright bole of a dead tree, 

 quite beyond the reach of rats, and appears to be more abundant now than ever ; 

 also the Rldpidura, Zoster 02)S, Gerygone, and other small birds whose delicate 

 nests are secured to slender twigs, or suspended among vines and creepers. 

 And the ground lark, again, which nests in open grass or fern land, where 

 the brown hawk {Circus Gouldi) keeps the i-at well under control, has of late 

 yeai-s sensibly increased being now very common. As a matter of fact, I 

 have known a case in which half a dozen nests of the tui, within a radius of 

 a himdred yards, were robbed by rats of both eggs and young. 



In a letter which I had the pleasure of receiving from the Rev. T. Chapman, 

 of Rotorua, some years ago, that gentleman states, — '' Wild ducks were par- 

 ticularly numerous in this district on my arrival here : you saw them by dozens, 

 —you hardly see them now by twos. I have no doubt we owe this to the Nor- 

 way rat. There is a place on the Waikato River, some twenty miles below 



* The following remark occurs in Mr. Travers' interesthig lecture, "On the Changes 

 effected in the Natural Features of a New Country by the Introduction of Civilized 

 Races:" — "The kiore has been replaced, if not destroj^ed, by the Euro^jean rat ; the 

 European honey-bee now swarms in oixr forests, taking the food of the meliphagous birds, 

 which are already diminishing palpably in numbers, whilst the facility afforded by the 

 immense epiphytical growth upon the forest trees enables the rat also to aid in this 

 destruction by devoiiring the eggs and young birds." — Trans. N. Z. Inst, Vol. ii., p. 312. 



