BuLLER, — On the Disappearance of the Korimako. 209 



Shag," tlie mapo or matapo of the Maoris. He describes this bird as 

 "browu all over with a yellow tinge on the throat," and says that it 

 frequents lakes and the upper courses of rivers and is never met with on 

 the sea coast. A colony of them, numbering about a dozen individuals 

 (exclusively of this kind) breed every year in a kahikatea forest near the 

 shores of Lake Eotorua. 



Apteryx australis, Shaw. — South Island Kiwi. 



Comparatively few specimens of this bird are now brought in by collectors 

 in the South Island, whereas the supply of Apteryx oweni is undiminished. 



Apteryx mantelli, Bartl. — North Island Kiwi. 



The natives whom I found camioing at the foot of the Kaimanawa range 

 in March last assured me that the kiwi was still very plentiful there. 

 About a fortnight before the date of my visit (or end of February) they 

 captured a female with a well-grown young one in a hollow log. It may be 

 inferred therefrom that this species commences nesting about the begmuing 

 of January. As the natives agree that there is never more than one young 

 bird in the nest, it seems probable that the kiwi breeds twice duruig the 

 season. 



Art. XXI. — On the Disappearance of the Korimako (Anthornis melanura) 

 from the North Island. By Walter L. Buller, C.M.G., Sc.D. 



[Bead before the Wellington Philosophical Society, 22nd September, 1877.] 



In my "History of the Birds of New Zealand," in treating of this 

 bird I made the following statement, which was afterwards challenged by 

 Captain Hutton, in a communication to " The Ibis :" — 



"This species, formerly very plentiful in every part of the country, 

 appears to be rapidly dying out. From some districts, where a few years 

 ago it was the commonest bird, it has now entirely vanished. In the 

 Waikato it is comparatively scarce ; on the East Coast it is only rarely met 

 with ; and from the woods north of Auckland it has disappeared altogether. 

 In my journeys through the Kai^^ara district eighteen years ago, I found 

 this bird excessively abundant everywhere ; and on the banks of the 

 Wairoa the bush fairly swarmed with them. Dr. Hector, who passed over 

 the same ground in 1886, assures me that he scarcely ever met with it ; 

 and a valued correspondent, writing from Whangarei (about eighty miles 

 north of Auckland), says : — ' In 1859 this bird was very abundant, in 1860 

 it was less numerous, in 1862 it was extremely rare, and from 1863 to 

 1866 I never saw but one individual. It now seems to be entirely extinct 

 in this district.' " a1 



