105 



i,; 





I pushed on to a spot a few miles further on than where I camped before. I am sorry to say 

 that the Bush Wren and the Wood Eobin had almost entirely disappeared. I am certain I 

 did not see more than a dozen during the several months I was out. The heavy falls of 

 snow last winter may have been the means of killing off a number of these birds, or the wet 

 summer may have induced them to migrate to some drier woods at a lower altitude; but, 

 whatever the cause may be, they are gone. Whilst I was there we had an immense and 

 continuous fall of rain, and the bush was never dry. We had twenty-six wet days in January, 

 and during the whole time of my stay it was mostly wet, with very little sunshine. The Wood 

 Eobin, which was formerly so plentiful there, has almost entirely gone. This is a great pity, 

 because there is no bird more respected by the backwoodsman than this one. There is nothing 

 else to relieve the monotony of these gloomy red-birch forests. Their raillery, if I may so term 

 their string of noisy notes, brings the explorer suddenly up when he is rambling alone in these 

 mountain solitudes, and produces a feeling of companionship. The absence of this sprightly bird 

 was, I may say, the saddest feature of my four months in the wet and lifeless forest." 



He afterwards sent me for examination some beautiful specimens of the Bush Wren, accom- 

 panied by the following notes : — 



" Far up, in a gloomy, wet mountain gully, nearly 4,000 feet above the level of the sea, I 

 came across a few families of this little silent bird. In the gully which they were inhabiting 

 grew a dense mass of a flax-like plant — a species of Astelia. These birds seem to display more of 

 the golden colour at the bend of the wing than any I have seen before, and they do not appear 

 to be so large as those I sent you from the Big Bush some years ago. All my specimens 

 of this bird were obtained by using a small net. 



" I have not met with any Rock Wrens up in this district. From where I was camped, half 

 an hour's climb took me into the open country — a bare mountain-side, in fact. I had a long 

 ramble over the rugged ridges and across the mountain-slopes, or ' mountain meadows ' as they 

 are called. I went to the summit of Mount Nugget, 4,995 feet, and then I went in another 

 direction to the summit of Mount Luna, 5,261 feet, but I never saw or heard a Bock Wren. It is 

 clear that the species does not exist in this part of the country. 



" I have been much impressed by the stillness and the almost entire absence of animal life in 

 these red-birch forests, so entirely different from my experience in the Pelorus woods. There, as 

 I lay in my tent at sunrise, the woods fairly rang with the chorus of songsters, the introduced 

 Finches, Thrushes, and Starlings joining in with the native birds. They seem to me to be sun- 

 worshippers. I have timed them with my watch, and find that the concert lasts just an hour. 

 Here, on the contrary, there is no sun-worship. I have often listened in my tent at break of day, 

 waiting for the song to commence, but there has been nothing but a chirp or two, or the note of 

 a Kaka passing overhead. And here I may remark that the note of the Kaka in these woods is 

 very different to anything I have heard elsewhere — a fact also noticed by Mr. Saxon, the 

 surveyor. It is something like this : ' Motuaka, hurry up ! ' followed by a shrill whistle — like 

 a shepherd calling his dog. I shot one or two, but I could observe nothing different from other 

 Kakas; only at this season (April) they were nothing but bones and feathers. 



" Of the White-legged Wren I have seen altogether fi.Ye. They inhabit the niania 

 forest, at an altitude verging on 4,000 feet. They look very conspicuous hopping about on their 

 white legs amongst the fallen niania leaves. I managed to catch one alive in the net, 

 but it ultimately escaped. Another I wounded, and then it got away amongst the niania. 

 One specimen, however, I secured, and placed in spirit for you." 



Later on he writes : "I have now been out in the bush for six months, and have seen only 

 one Bush Wren, two Rifle Wrens, two Saddlebacks, and no Rock Wrens. These birds are 

 almost extinct in the Nelson and Pelorus forests, where they were so plentiful eight years ago. 

 Vol. ii. — 14 



