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and lakes and sea-shores in New Zealand for many years he could not have depicted the birds in more natural 

 positions or painted their haunts to greater perfection. In the individual history of most species Buller has 

 left little of interest to be added ; in others additional features in their habits will transpire as colonisation 

 spreads and the country becomes more settled. Since the second edition of the ' Birds of New Zealand ' 

 in 1888, I have been able to gather additional notes on the habits of many species, some of which I now offer ; 

 I also add some observations on the causes of the extinction and gradual disappearance of certain native birds. 

 .... Anthomis melanura : The history of this delightful songster of the New Zealand bush is so perfectly 

 given by Buller that nothing need be added to it here. The sudden disappearance of this species from many 

 of its old haunts in the North Island, and the apparently inevitable extinction that similarly threatened it in the 

 South Island were truly deplored by all naturalists. The causes, to which are attributed the gradual or 

 rapid disappearance of certain species of New Zealand birds have been fully discussed by Buller ; these 

 include the probable effects of the introduced honey-bee on the habits of the Meliphagidce, the changed 

 environment produced by the perfect or imperfect clearing of open, swampy lands and forests, and the 

 introduction of predatory animals. In discussing the various causes and their effects, he contended that 

 the honey-bee theory was 'quite insufficient to meet the case,' and stated: 'As the result of long 

 observation, I have come to the conclusion that apart from the effects produced by a gradual change 

 in the physical condition of the country, the chief agent in this rapid destruction of certain species of 

 native birds is the introduced Bat.' .... The forests on the eastern side of the South Island 

 are of limited extent, and were the first to be worked or cut out by the colonists for building-timbers 

 and fuel. The thinning and clearing of the smaller forests of many trees and shrubs bearing mellifluous 

 flowers would appreciably affect the honey and insect supply of both meliphagous and insectivorous 

 birds in a short space of time. To see a number of Korimakos in the spring months regaling them- 

 selves on the sweet flowers of the kowhai, ngaio, papauma, tawhiwhi, and manuka trees is one of the 

 naturalist's charms of the year. But alas ! from several districts, where only a few years ago those 

 sylvan scenes were present, the forest flowers and the sweet song of the Korimako have vanished, and 



the flocks of the farmer now occupy their sites The loss of the species affected is due to 



some general cause, and, with the able author of the ' Birds of New Zealand,' I implicitly agree that 

 it is attributable to the ravages of Bats. There is no doubt that the Norway rat was introduced into 

 New Zealand in the early days of colonisation, perhaps even in the earlier days of the visits of whalers 

 to the South Seas, and that, there being no indigenous Mustelidse or other natural enemies,* excepting 

 the native Hawks, they multiplied in our genial climate at an astounding rate. Precisely the same 

 thing is happening at the present time in the districts where the introduced Stoats and Weasels have 

 been liberated to wage war against the Babbits. They first turn their attention to, and appease their 



voracious appetites on, the easily captured native birds A few instances showing the 



number and distribution of Bats in New Zealand may be of interest. About twenty-five years ago, when 

 Peel Forest was first opened for timber-cutting, several of the bushmen afterwards informed me that 

 wherever they pitched their tents or huts their stores were assailed in a few days by Bats. Mr. Eugene 

 Lorgerie, an old resident in the forest, informed me once that he had shot a large Bat running 

 along a high limb of a totara tree. But the most remarkable fact about the occurrence of Bats in 

 remote places in the early days was illustrated during the gold fever on the West Coast. Amid great 

 hardships the diggers penetrated into unknown regions in that great forest country in search of the 

 precious metal ; no matter where the hardy fellows went, up lonely rivers or wooded mountain spurs, they 

 found themselves invariably preceded by the ubiquitous Bat, and the greatest precautions had to be 

 taken to preserve their scanty supplies of food from the attacks of these animals. Bats are common 

 everywhere in the Westland bush at the present time, and are unpleasantly numerous about many 

 homesteads of the settlers on the Canterbury plains, and on all the Downs country under the main 

 range. There are two unfortunate drawbacks to most species of native birds, namely, their exceeding 

 tameness and their easily accessible nests. Before the advent of the Anglo-Saxon and his accompanying- 

 evils in New Zealand, the native birds had practically no enemies to contend with, and in many districts 

 in the South Island peace and harmony had reigned in their domain for long ages. Hence their tameness, 



The honey-bee theory in its bearing on the disappearance of any of the native birds is, 



I am convinced, an utter fallacy. 



* The native rat, Mus exulans, was purely frugivorous. 



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