﻿W. T. L. Travers. — On the Habits of SoTne New Zealand Birds. 207 



lo7igirostris or Oyster-catcher, tlie Himantopus Novce Zelandice or Pied Stilt, 

 the Black Stilt and the Black-billed Gulls occur, though not in large n\imbers. 

 This list by no means exhausts the birds of the district in question, b\it com- 

 prises all upon which I intend to offer any remarks in this paper. 



The Paradise Duck is usually found in the valleys, feeding more upon the 

 tender shoots of young grass and upon herbs of various kinds, than upon fish 

 or other forms of animal life. Indeed, this bird is especially destructive to 

 young pasture, and I have been compelled to wage war against it on that 

 account. It breeds from October to January, and not unfi-equently rears two 

 broods during the season. I have, in fact, more than once seen two broods of 

 different ages running with the same pair of parent birds. The single broods 

 vary in number, the largest I ever saw being ten. Both parents are anxious 

 and watchful about their young, resorting to the ruse of pretending lameness 

 and inability to rise from the ground, in order to draw off any animal which 

 they think likely to be mischievous. It is excessively amusing to see an olj 

 duck waddling away as if with the greatest difficulty, her wings drooping and 

 flapped occasionally, in order to assist her apparently struggling efforts to escape, 

 whilst all the time she manages to keep in advance of even a fleet dog, until 

 at last, having drawn him to what she deems a safe distance from her nest, 

 she at once rises from the ground, screaming out her harsh danger signal, to 

 the complete discomfiture of the panting dog. Upon the danger signal being- 

 uttered by the parent birds, the young ones usually make at once for the nearest 

 flowing water, down which they float close to the bank, seeking cover and 

 availing themselves with great sagacity of every opportunity of shelter or 

 concealment, in which they are assisted by their similarity in general colour to 

 the soil and vegetation. During the moulting season large numbers of the old 

 birds freqiient the lake, associating together in a fleet, and usually occupying 

 a gravelly bank at its upper end, from whence they take to the water upon 

 the least symptom of danger, and invariably make for the middle of the lake, 

 which is far out of gunshot from any part of its banks. In diving they 

 use their wings for propulsion, and can travel a considerable distance under 

 water. These birds are easily tamed, and I believe that if they could be kept 

 within bounds for two or three seasons, they would breed freely in a quasi- 

 domesticated state. In the youug birds the sexes are undistinguishable by 

 their colour, the distinctive feathering of the sexes only apijearing in the 

 beginning of the winter succeeding their birth. 



The Grey Duck in the wild state, is, in some respects, less shy than the 

 Paradise Duck, at all events in localities in which it is not persecuted or much 

 shot at. Several young birds have been brought up by the children of my 

 manager, which, although frequently absent for considerable intervals from the 

 lake, continue so tame as always to resort to the house for food when upon it. 



