NEW ZEALAND or PARADISE SHELDRAKE 255 



young would take only a little grass besides the wild food which they picked up on 

 the shore. They would not eat wheat until they were two weeks old. One day Mr. 

 Henry saw the male bird killing a Blue Penguin on the beach. During all this 

 period the young were exposed to constant danger from all sorts of predaceous birds, 

 particularly Skua Gulls, but only one of them disappeared. 



Other writers have enlarged on the affection shown by the parents for their young, 

 and the complex devices employed by them to distract the attention of intruders, 

 both men and beasts, from their brood. One remarkable instance of the persistence 

 of parental instinct is quoted by Buller (1905). A Mr. Shalders captured three 

 young and placed them in a box on his wagon, taking them six miles to his camp. 

 Next morning not far from his wagon he was surprised to see both parents, and on 

 releasing the young they were immediately taken in charge by the drake, who led 

 them back toward the river. 



Another pair was surprised with ten young, and immediately took to a near-by 

 mountain torrent and sailed diagonally across, beak to tail, the young resting safe 

 against their parents on the upstream side. 



In the Emu for 1913 (vol. 13, p. 215) there is quoted a newspaper article by Mr. 

 James Drummond which is of great interest. The nests here described were in rabbit- 

 burrows, and both the duck and the drake assisted in incubation. The burrows were 

 not deep, and the observer could see the birds from outside. He continues, quot- 

 ing a Mr. Murdock, who says, "The drake takes his turn at sitting on the eggs. It 

 is a solemn business with him. Perhaps it is his coloring that makes him so seri- 

 ous, so different from the gay and light-hearted duck. But for all that I do not 

 think he is trusted to turn the eggs, the duck attends to that work." 



Status. The Paradise Duck is rapidly becoming a rare bird. Its disappearance 

 in the Nelson District was generally attributed to the laying of poisoned wheat to 

 eradicate rabbits, but Buller (1905) is inclined to ascribe it to ravages of introduced 

 stoats and weasels. The same thing is true of the Marlboro District, where it is now 

 counted by tens and twenties, where formerly the Maoris would capture them in 

 great numbers (Buller, 1905). Handly (Trans, and Proc. New Zealand Inst., vol. 27, 

 p. 365, 1896), writing of the Wellington District, says that the Warian lagoons used 

 to be alive with them, and that they were slaughtered by thousands for the Welling- 

 ton market. This continued till the Governor was persuaded to proclaim a protected 

 area. In the Maruia they were reported still to exist in immense numbers as late as 

 1907 (Fulton, Trans, and Proc. New Zealand Inst., vol. 40, p. 499, 1908). The bird 

 was certainly very plentiful when Lieut.-Col. Montagu Cradock wrote his book 

 Sport in New Zealand (1904) but he tells of the great persecution which was then 

 taking place and the numbers which were killed by phosphorized oats intended for 

 killing rabbits. 



