INTRODUCTION. 



XXXIX 



Commissioners of Crown Lands all over the colony have received instructions to withhold from 

 sale spots of exceptional beauty and all places of historic interest— such, for example, as the site 

 of the Orakau Pa, with its tradition of ' Ale, alee, ake ! ' (which, by the way, was within a few 

 hours of being sold, when the Government stepped in to save it) ; and the site of Eangiriri, where 

 the Waikato tribes made their first heroic resistance before surrendering to an overwhelming force, 

 and where so many of our own brave men lie buried. Forest reserves like the beautiful belt 

 of bush along the boundary of the State farm at Horowhenua, are being defined and proclaimed ; 

 and the law is being invoked for the protection, one after another, of our rarer species of 

 birds. All honour to the Government that has taken this new departure ! 



ALBINOES AND OTHEE NATUEAL FEEAKS. 



The inherent tendency to albinism is one of the marked characteristics of the New Zealand 

 ornis. Albinism in the human subject is due to the absence of the minute particles of colouring 

 matter in the epidermis or outer cuticle, the presence of which, in more or less abundance, gives 

 colour to the skin. In many species of quadrupeds, birds, and reptiles, albinism, due to a precisely 

 similar cause, often exhibits itself, the skin, hair, feathers, and also the hard tissues— even the 

 horny sheaths and scaly coverings— presenting an abnormal whiteness. Sometimes, as in the 

 case of white rats, mice, and rabbits, this is accompanied by an abnormal condition of the eyes, 

 which become blood-red. The whiteness of plumage, the purity of which is regulated by the 

 entire or only partial absence of the colouring pigment in the feathers, is thus easily accounted 

 for ; but I have been unable to discover any sufficient reason for the frequency of this condition 

 of plumage among the birds of New Zealand. It is certainly not the result of disease or of 

 a low state of vitality, any more than albinism in the human subject can be taken to indicate 

 an enfeebled condition of mind or body. May it not then be in some way dependent on climatic 

 conditions ? It is a significant fact that in tropical India the tendency is in an opposite direction, 

 melanism, as we are informed, being of frequent occurrence there. Now, in the whole of my 

 experience, I have met with only two examples of melanism among New Zealand land birds — the 

 subjects being Anthornis melanura and Muscitrcea albifrons — and I cannot say that in either case 

 was it very pronounced. Among sea-birds, the only instances I have known were the following : 

 a black Penguin (Gatarrhactes packyrhynchus) from the Snares (= Eudyptes atratus, Hutton) ; a 

 similar Eoyal Penguin (C. schlegeli) from Macquarie Island, which I purchased from Mr. Bills, of 

 Dunedin, for Mr. Eothschild's collection ; and several examples of Megadijptes antipodum, in 

 which the under surface was more or less spotted with black. I have lately heard of a black 

 King Penguin (Aptenodytes patagonica), from Macquarie Island, now in the Tring Museum.* 



invalids resorting to them. The death rate in New Zealand has for many years been the lowest in the world. New 

 Zealand is the home of the Maori, an interesting and picturesque native race. Moreover, it is a British Colony." 



Lord Brassey, too, has borne testimony to the matchless beauty of our scenery. I quote from the ' British 

 Australasian ' : " Asked at a recent interview whether he thought the scenery of New Zealand had been over-praised, 

 Lord Brassey replied, ' I do not. I think no language could do justice to the subject. My experience in such matters 

 has been greater than that which falls to the lot of most men. Voyaging along many coasts, I have seen much 

 of Nature's beauty. I have made several voyages to the coast of Norway ; I have been through Magellan Strait ; 

 I have seen the famous inland sea of Japan ; I know Switzerland well, also Italy, and I have seen nothing which 

 equals in beauty and magnificence the New Zealand Sounds. Whatever Nature has to show to man of the sublime and 

 the beautiful is to be found there.' " 



* At a meeting of the British Ornithologists' Club, held on April 25th, 1900, Dr. Hartert (on behalf of the Hon, 

 Walter Rothschild) made an interesting exhibition of albinoes, melanisms, and other colour variations, from the Tring 

 Museum, which contains probably the finest collection of such specimens in the world. In the course of his remarks, 



