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155 



The beautiful Huia, famous alike in Maori tradition and song, is becoming every year 

 more scarce, notwithstanding its close protection by a statute which, I am glad to say, is 

 very rigidly enforced by the police in the bush districts. Its decrease is, no doubt, owing mainly 

 to the inevitable destruction of its favourite forest haunts in the steady march of European 

 settlement, large areas of bush -land being annually cleared and burnt off in every district. 

 Apart from this, the periodical recurrence of devastating bush-fires, originating nobody knows 

 how, is altering the whole aspect of the country. However much this may be deplored, it is 

 one of the necessary accompaniments of colonisation in a country like New Zealand. Owing 

 to such causes, the range of the Huia, always very limited in extent, is becoming more and 

 more restricted every year, and its ultimate fate is not a matter of mere speculation. I was 

 never more impressed with this than when I made an ascent of the Euahine Eange in July, 

 1898. A wide spread conflagration had swept through and killed many thousands of acres 

 of virgin forest on the side of the range towards Woodville ; but on getting beyond and above 

 this scene of desolation, we found the mountain-side clad with thick vegetation. This con- 

 sists on the lower ranges of the usual mixture of native trees, but at a higher elevation it 

 changes almost entirely to tawhero, or mountain-cedar, which becomes more and more stunted 

 the further you ascend, till at length it is as gnarled and twisted in its growth as the 

 olives of Gethsemane, to which, indeed (according to Bishop Stuart), the trees in this con- 

 dition present a remarkable likeness. At an altitude of 1,800 feet the lovely Todea superba 

 made its first appearance, but this fern soon became the dominant plant, and we at length 

 found ourselves in patches of it many acres in extent, looking very beautiful in symmetrical 

 fronds of vivid green. We reached the summit of Whariti (3,500 feet) in good time, and then 

 stood on the dividing line between the provincial districts of Wellington and Hawke's Bay. 

 The sky being clear, we had a magnificent panoramic view of the surrounding country, both 

 east and west coasts being visible, and the cone of Mount Egmont in the far north, whilst 

 a distant veil of cloud alone prevented our seeing Euapehu and the burning mountain. We 

 descended by the same route, crossing several densely wooded spurs, and arriving at the 

 foot of the range before nightfall. 



Although the season was favourable, and the weather perfect, there was an almost total 

 absence of bird-life. During the whole excursion we never saw or even heard the note of 

 the Tui; we shot a Kaka, heard a Parakeet, and saw a single Huia (a fine female bird), 

 which, on our near approach, went bounding through the mountain vegetation with the 

 swiftness of a greyhound. Our attention was first attracted to it by the peculiar whimpering- 

 note, which I have described elsewhere — very soft and musical. Formerly this was a favourite 

 haunt of this elegant mountain Starling, which could always be attracted by an imitation 

 of its peculiar whistling cry; now it has all but vanished. Seeing that excellent insular 

 preserves have been acquired by the Government, it seems to me a great pity that an effort 

 is not made, before it is too late, to capture a few live Huias and turn them out on the 

 Little Barrier, on Kapiti, and on Eesolution Island. Unless this be done, the final extinction 

 of this species can only be a matter of a few years. Its powers of flight are so limited — 

 its progression being generally effected by a bounding movement through the branches — that, 

 once safely introduced, there would be no danger of its quitting its island home for the 

 mainland; and the difference of climate at the three points I have indicated would give 

 the experiment every chance of success. The cost would be very small, as this bird is 

 easily snared; and, if the Government would not defray the trifling expenditure necessary, 

 the task might be properly undertaken by the local Acclimatisation Society. From a zoo- 

 logical point of view, it is even of more importance to preserve the Huia for the student 

 oAhe future than the little Stitch-Bird, about which so much has of late been said and 



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