145 



native districts this rule is strictly observed, and, as a consequence, when the killing com- 

 mences the birds are in prime condition, the body being then overlaid with rich yellow fat. 

 By this means all unnecessary waste is avoided. 



From Hastings, under the date of January 18th, Captain (now Sir William) Eussell 

 sent me the following note : " I have one good large plant of the mountain-flax growing 

 in my garden here. It was planted by myself many years ago. This evening one Tui was 

 hopping about it extracting the honey. Almost every season a pair of Tuis appear, when 

 the flax-plant is in bloom, remain a day, and then vanish— where ? Why do they come ? 

 And whence ? There is abundance of the swamp-flax not far away, but I have never observed 

 a Tui upon it. There is no native bush, as you know, within miles of Hastings. Possibly 

 you may not think the circumstance strange, and I mention it only because it seems so to 

 me." In reply, I told Captain Eussell that the instance he records is by no means uncommon, 

 but that it is quite impossible to account for these vagaries on the part of wild birds. I 

 mentioned to him a very remarkable case within my knowledge of a Wood-Pigeon {Hemiphaga 

 novcB-zealanclicB) which, for years past, had at a particular season visited a flowering yellow 

 kowhai in a garden in front of Tinakori Eoad, in the suburbs of Wellington— miles away 

 from the nearest haunt of the Pigeon — remaining a day and then disappearing. It may, 

 I think, be safely assumed that the same individual bird came back season after season; 

 and, whatever else it may indicate, it seems to furnish good evidence of the existence of 

 memory in birds as a permanent faculty. The same thing has been observed of the common 

 Sea Gull (Larus dominie anus) . Birds that have been reared by hand in the poultry-yard and 

 have subsequently gone wild will, years after, revisit the scenes of their youth, regale 

 themselves for a day with the fowls, then betake themselves to the sea again. 



One of the most remarkable features in the ornithology of New Zealand is the frequency 

 of albinism. In the case of our common Tui (Prosthemadera novce-zealanclice) four examples 

 are mentioned in 'Birds of New Zealand' (vol. i., p. 95). I have now to add several more. 

 A singular specimen was obtained at Table Hill, about twelve miles from Milton, in March, 

 1887. The general plumage is white with a creamy tinge, the quills and tail-feathers being 

 pure white. The forepart of the head is dull steel-black, which colour fades away into greyish- 

 brown on the neck and upper part of the breast, and then gradually blends with the white. 

 The bill and feet are of the normal colour ; but the claws are pale brown. 



In a fine example, shot by my son Percy, at Kaikoura, the greater wing-coverts are 

 minutely tipped with white— a very unusual feature. From Stewart Island I have received 

 a beautiful albino. The whole of the plumage is of the purest white, with the exception 

 only of a tinge of cream colour on the shoulders, back, and sides of the body; the bill and 

 feet are also white. This is now in the Tring Museum. 



An albino in Mr. Drew's collection has many of the quills in both wings, and the three 

 middle tail-feathers wholly or partially normal; most of the secondaries in one wing partially 

 white; cloudy patches of black on the shoulders and on the abdomen, with a few scattered 

 black feathers on the breast ; the rest of the plumage pure white ; bill and feet normal. 



An albino specimen, lately added to my son's collection, has the head and throat smoky- 

 brown; the whole of the body-plumage white, with a creamy tinge on the shoulders, breast 

 and flanks. 



The Tui owes its present very efficient protection in some measure to the occurrence 

 of a beautiful albino in the Taranaki district in the spring of 1902. This bird was shot 

 by a simple country lad who knew nothing about the ' Wild Bird's Protection Act.' So 

 lovely a specimen attracted a good deal of public attention, and the friend to whom the lad 

 gave the bird promptly sent it to the Colonial Museum to be skinned. And now the trouble 



Yol. ii. — 19 



■■H 



