BuLLER, — Notes on the Ornithology of New Zealand, 199 



by the action of the winds, and the gnats appear to be killed by the 

 sulphurous vapour that rises from the water, and are seen floating on the 

 surface in countless millions." 



As a rule the grey duck forms a nest of dry grass or flags, lined with 

 feathers and down plucked from her own body, and selects a convenient 

 situation on the ground — always well- concealed from view — sometimes at a 

 considerable distance from the water. Occasionally, however, a more 

 elevated site is fixed upon. On the famous Island of Motutaiko, in the 

 Taupo Lake, there are some gigantic pohutukawa trees (Metrosideros 

 tomentosa). In the forked branches of these trees, some twenty or thirty 

 feet above the surface of the water, the grey duck often builds her nest 

 and hatches her young. The natives state that when the ducklings are 

 ready to take to the water the old birds bring them down to the lake on 

 their backs. 



Hymenol^mus MAiiACOEHYNCHus, Gray. — Blue Duck. 



Captain Man- informs me that the wio is plentiful in all the mountain 

 streams in the Urewera country. When marching with the native con- 

 tingent in pursuit of Te Kooti, as many as forty or fifty were sometimes 

 caught in the course of a day, some being taken by hand, and others 

 knocked over with sticks or stones, so very tame and stupid were they. A 

 pair which he obtained as very young birds at Maunga-pohatu lived in the 

 Kaiteriria camp for two years, associating freely with the domestic ducks, 

 and fairly establishing themselves in the cooking-hut. They were particu- 

 larly fond of potato and rice, and would readily take food from the hand. 

 Ultimately they took to the lake and disappeared. 



Larus scopulinus, Forst. — Mackerel- Gull. 



The following communication from Captain Mair (under date May 13) 

 presents this well-known species in the new character of a fruit-eating 

 bird : — " I was greatly surprised on the 1st instant at seeing swarms of the 

 small white gull — tarapunga or akiaki of the natives — crowding on the 

 angiangi trees (Coprosma) at the mouth of the Maketu Eiver, eating the 

 berries. They were so tame that I could have knocked them down with my 

 walking-stick. I also saw them in great numbers in the corn-fields at 

 Maketu, and again near Tauranga yesterday. I saw a man ploughing 

 up a grass-field ; a flock of three or four hundred of these beautiful little 

 creatures followed his furrow, the horses almost treading on them. They 

 followed in the steps of the ploughman so closely that they seemed almost 

 to settle between his feet. It was a scramble to see who could be first in the 

 furrow after the plough had passed on. A solitary stilt-plover or torea 

 (Himantopus) stalked along among them, but at a more respectful distance 

 from the ploughman." 



