5IO INTERACTION OF ENDEMIC 



should have done so. It was common in Whangarei in i860, and then 

 began to get scarce. It was, however, common about the watershed 

 of the Wanganui and Mangawhero rivers in 1909, and is also very 

 abundant on some outlying islands, e.g. Mayor Island. But in the 

 South Island it has certainly become more abundant in recent years, 

 even though there has been very wholesale destruction of bush. It is 

 many years since Mr W. W. Smith reported its increase in the forest 

 belt of South Canterbury. I have myself noted it year by year in the 

 neighbourhood of Dunedin, where it is found in the Town Belt and 

 in suburban gardens during many months of the year, especially 

 when certain trees are in flower. In Southland, Mr J. Crosby Smith 

 and Mr Philpott also report the species as increasing. The case is 

 certainly peculiar, for the tui (Prosthemadera) persists in the North 

 Island, but has become comparatively rare in the settled districts in 

 the South Island. The habits and food of the two birds are somewhat 

 similar, only the tui is a much more conspicuous bird. 



The harrier {Circus gouldii) is another bird which has certainly 

 increased to a great extent. 



Mr Richard Reynolds of Cambridge, Waikato, an enthusiastic 

 sportsman and naturalist, writes me as follows (June 23rd, 1916): 



The morning after £50 worth of partridges had been liberated here, my 

 son found eight of them killed, with a hawk on each ; he shot a rabbit, 

 poisoned it with strychnine and secured eighteen hawks with it. In 

 driving from here to Tepapa (24 miles) a few days ago I passed (within 

 sight) 162 hawks, 17 of them in one bunch. 



This gives some idea of the enormous abundance of this bird in the 

 North Island. These hawks visit Stephens Island in Cook Strait 

 apparently in pursuit of young petrels. But as the Island is a preserve 

 for the Tuatara lizard, the lighthouse keepers are instructed to destroy 

 all hawks met with. I am informed by Mr Newton of the Public 

 Works Department that between 23rd January, 1917, and 28th 

 February, 1919, no fewer than 1582 hawks were killed. They all 

 seemed to come from the North Island via Kapiti. I have no cor- 

 responding figures for the South, but in open country the hawk is 

 the bird most in evidence everywhere. They are protected birds on 

 account of the damage they are supposed to do to rabbits, but even 

 where they are very abundant the rabbit thrives without much 

 hindrance from the hawk. In the North they are more destructive 

 to hares than to rabbits. 



Some of the introduced small birds attack the harrier, as their 

 ancestors in Britain attacked kites and sparrow-hawks. Some larger 

 birds also "go for" this hawk. Mr Holman of Whangarei tells me 

 he has often seen guinea-fowls attacking and beating off the hawks 

 from the chickens. 



