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195 



I have always been contending for the recognition of this Heron as specifically distinct 

 from H. alba. After collecting birds in New Zealand for more than forty years, I can only 

 remember one instance (recorded below) of this bird having other than a yellow bill, and in that 

 case the outer half was black. I once received a specimen, shot in the depth of winter, in which 

 the entire bill was of vivid yellow. It had no dorsal plumes, but the feathers composing the 

 mantle were lengthened and somewhat filamentous. 



Through the exertions of Mr. St. Clair Liardet, who informs me that he was more than 

 a week in pursuit of the birds before he could get a shot, owing to their extreme shyness, 

 I have received from Collingwood a magnificent pair of the White Heron, or "White Crane," as 

 the colonists prefer to call it. The plumage is of snowy whiteness throughout, and both 

 sexes are furnished with the filamentous dorsal train, which is, however, decidedly fuller in 

 the male bird. 



Almost without exception, New-Zealand-killed examples at all seasons of the year have the 

 bill entirely yellow ; but a specimen shot at Lake Te Anau in December 1892 (and now in Mr. 

 Melland's possession) exhibits the entirely-black upper mandible which is a regular seasonal 

 character with the Heron in India. This particular bird was in beautiful plumage, with ample 

 dorsal train of filamentous feathers, being apparently a male. Irides very light yellow ; soft parts 

 round the eyes bluish-green ; legs and feet black ; soles yellowish. 



On my last visit to Paterson's Inlet (Stewart Island) I saw a beautiful White Heron, which, 

 it was said, had been frequenting that locality for ten or twelve years. We found him perched 

 among, or very near to, a colony of Pied Shags, which were nesting in a tree "rookery"; but the 

 vigilant bird took alarm and sailed away long before our boat had reached the spot, or the Shags, 

 ever on the alert, had shown any sign of uneasiness. We saw him later on in the day, on the 

 other side of the cove, perched high up on a rimu-tree, and looking very conspicuous among the 

 surrounding vegetation : but, although it was fully a quarter of a mile off where our boat landed, 

 the bird took alarm and was off again. I was amused and pleased at the objection of the lad who 

 rowed me out to any attempt being made to shoot the Crane, because, as he put it, " We've seen 

 him here ever so lone - ." 



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About six months later an ardent collector, after much careful stalking, shot this beautiful 

 Heron, and sent me the skin. I purchased the specimen, but wrote to my correspondent express- 

 ing my regret that he had interfered with this particular bird. In his reply he said: "If I had 

 known so much of the history of this Crane as I know now I never would have shot it." It 

 proved to be a female, and at the time it was killed — the month of August — it had no dorsal 

 plumes.* 



The mention of this solitary Kotuku in Stewart Island reminds one of a passage in Canon 

 Stack's interesting brochure, already referred to : " In his island home at Eakeiura (Stewart 

 Island) Kana te Pu dreamt that he caught a White Crane, which kicked him in the chest while 



* It is satisfactory to know that one's efforts to preserve intact one of the beauty-spots in the Colony meets with 

 appreciation. For example, Mr. George Fen wick, of Dunedin, wrote to me as far back as April 19th, 1899, as follows : — 



" Thank you very much for your paper read before the Wellington Philosophical Society last November. There is 

 much of it extremely interesting, and it is pleasant to know that you continue to take so warm an interest in the orni- 

 thology of the colony, and that you have numerous correspondents who to some extent aid in the good work. What a 

 pleasure it must be to you to have a delightful country place like Papaitonga, where our beautiful birds can live in 

 security and peace, and fill the air with their melody. Long may the protection they at present enjoy be extended to 

 them ! We are fortunate, in Dunedin, in having preserved to us a good deal of bush in the Town Belt. Because of this 

 we are still privileged to hear the little Grey Warbler and the Bell-bird, although the old-time denizens of the suburban 

 bush have gone — the Tuis and Kakas and Pigeons. I even remember a beautiful White Crane on the beach at 

 Dunedin — but that is a long time to look back to. Like the Stewart-Island specimen whose sad fate you tell of, it too 

 was shot." 



