48 



Yellow Admiral butterfly, but I could not catch any. I saw occasionally a small lizard, which I 

 referred to Lygosoma moco. Bird life is scarce, except at certain seasons and in particular 

 localities. 



From some parts of the country this once very common species — whose cry, by the way, 

 exactly resembles that of the European Curlew — is fast disappearing. In districts where, only a 

 few years ago, it was extremely plentiful, its shrill cry is now seldom or never heard. 



As a rule the colours of the female are much duller than in the other sex. But a specimen 

 caught for me by a Maori dog at Papaitonga, and which proved on dissection to be a female, was 

 as bright-plumaged a bird as I have ever seen. The ovary contained a cluster of undeveloped 

 eggs. The bird was extremely fat and the skin unusually tough, indicating, I suppose, a ripe 

 old age. 



On a recent visit to Hawke's Bay I saw a lovely albino obtained in the Mohaka district. 

 The whole of the plumage was snow-white, with the exception of a small patch beween the 

 shoulders, the rump, and the upper tail-coverts, which were of the normal colour; bill and feet pale 

 reddish-brown. 



Mr. Elsdon Best writes : " The Weka, or Wood-hen, is almost an unknown quantity in 

 Tuhoeland. I have only once heard the cry of this bird during a three-years' sojourn in the 

 district. The natives, however, state that it was more numerous in former times. They 

 were usually hunted with dogs." 



A specimen which I received from the Hutt valley had the quills of the wings entirely black 

 without any of the customary chestnut bars. On some of the secondaries there were obsolete 

 markings, but very obscure and broken. 



Mr. Pycroft says this species is still plentiful at the Bay of Islands, especially in the neigh- 

 bourhood of Russell. 



To the numerous recorded instances of albinism in New Zealand birds I have now to 

 add another. A specimen of the above species from Hawke's Bay presents a singular piebald 

 character : the forehead, fore part of crown, sides of head, throat, fore-neck, and all the under- 

 parts, are pure white ; the normal colour appearing in a small patch in the middle of the breast, 

 behind the thighs, and under the tail. The plumage of the upper parts is normal, save that on 

 the left side of the head the white extends half round the nape. In both wings some of the 

 secondaries and primaries and a few of the large coverts are pure white, and there is likewise one 

 white tail-feather. Bill whitish horn-colour. Legs pale brown ; claws yellow horn-colour. 



I received on the 6th January from Captain Mair two newly-hatched chicks of this species, 

 obtained on the banks of the Manawatu River. They were thickly covered with silky down of a 

 uniform brownish-black colour. 



At Owhaoko, in the Patea country, I found the Wood-hen fattening on the fallen fruit of the 

 native Fuchsia (F. excortica). In this district this tree forms a principal part of the underwood, 

 and assumes large proportions, the trunk being sometimes as much as two feet in thickness. The 

 foliage is very conspicuous, being of a bright green colour, the under surface of the leaves being 

 silvery white. This is the only really deciduous tree we have. The bark, which peels off in thin 

 layers, is of a bright saffron-brown. The outer skin is extremely thin, and on the slightest 

 abrasion discloses an inner bark of a vivid green colour. The karamu (Coprosma lucidd), with its 

 glossy green foliage, and bunches of red currant-like berries, is also plentiful here. And on the 

 fallen fruit of these two trees the Wood-hen regales itself and gets fat. 



Mr. Robert A. Wilson, to whom I am indebted for some beautiful specimens of this bird, 

 writes to me : " Unlike the stupid Stilt-plover, the Wood-hen, which also lives in the bottoms of 

 creeks, nearly always nests in a single raised flax-bush some distance above the flood-mark. 

 When looking for eggs, if you walk along a creek and examine the bushes standing by themselves, 



