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151 



The fowler then conceals himself behind the hut. He has lying by his side a number of short sticks, each with 

 a noose (tari or reti) attached to one end. He calls the birds by placing the sides of his hand to his mouth, and 

 imitating the sounds made by the Porete when flitting about. The birds soon commence to enter the hut and 

 settle on the ' kurupae/ where they watch intently the decoy birds fastened to the ' turuturu,' just in front and 

 below the ' kurupae.' When a goodly number of birds have settled on the perches, the fowler takes up a stick 

 and pushes it through the screen. He slips the noose over the head of a bird and thus secures it, and so on 

 until he has used all his snares, when he resets them and makes a fresh start. 



The call leaf was used for attracting many of the smaller birds, the leaf of a plant called pepepe being often 

 used, as also various other kinds of leaves. To take the little Momoutu the fowler twirls a leaf rapidly between 

 his fingers, at the same time imitating the cry of the bird. It is said that the bird mistakes the twirling leaf 

 for its young, and will come so close as to be caught by hand. The Momoutu is now extinct in Tuhoeland. 



The raurekau, or leaf of the manono (Goprosma grandifolia), is used to call the Koko or Tui, as also the 

 Tihe, Eearea, Tieke, Kokako and Tataeto, by the ' pae ' method. 



Mr. W. W. Smith, writing on September 28th, 1903, says :— 



I ought to mention the great rarity of the Silver-eye (Zosterops ccsrulescens) in this district during the last 

 five years. Since the dull, cold winter of 1898 I have seen only two small flocks, of about eight or nine 

 individuals in each, instead of the large flocks numbering occasionally hundreds that visited the settled districts 

 in the open Canterbury Plains in former years. The scarcity of food caused by the two previously cool, wet 

 summers is unquestionably the cause of their non-appearance on the Plains as in former winters. I am 

 informed by residents of Mount Somers that these interesting little birds are now scarce in the bush districts 

 compared to their numbers of five years ago. It is, as you are aware, very difficult to procure accurate infor- 

 mation as to their numbers, migratory instincts, and habits in the extensive and recently settled districts in 

 the North Island. I am, nevertheless, of opinion that the species is much affected by the continuously chilly 

 summers and lack of food in the settled districts in the South Island, which has compelled them to migrate to 

 the warm West Coast or to the North Island. Let us hope, however, that the species is not undergoing any 

 decadence from climatological or other effects. 



Dr. Forbes records the new fact, that in the Chatham Islands these birds at certain seasons 

 frequent the shores of Hanson's Bay in myriads and feed on the little Sand-hoppers (Crustaceans 

 of the Amphipodous group). 



Captain Hutton writes : ' We found the White- eye both on the Snares and Auckland 

 Islands, and Filhol has reported its presence on Campbell Island. A nest with three addled 

 eggs was found on the Auckland Islands in the branches of a Dracophyllum longifolium." 



Order PASSERIFOKMES.l 



[Family MOTACILLID^E. 



A N T H US NO YJE -ZEALANDIZE. 



(NEW-ZEALAND PIPIT.) 



Anthus novae-zealandiae (Gmelin), Buller, Birds of New Zealand, vol. i., p. 63. 



It is very clear that these birds congregate in the autumn. On March 21st, 1882, I found 

 them forming into parties of ten or more in the Taupo-Patea country, where this bird 

 is more plentiful than any other species. At other times they are generally to be seen 

 singly or in pairs. During a ride to and from Owhaoko (April 22nd to 29th) I met with 

 numerous flocks, numbering from twenty to fifty at a time. I hardly saw a single bird detached 

 from the flocks. 



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