196 



vainly struggling to get free. Interpreting this dream to mean that he was destined to overcome 

 some famous Ngaitahu warrior, he went to a neighbouring stream to bind the omen, and then, 

 eager to distinguish himself, summoned his followers, and took his departure for the seat of war. 

 In the crisis of the battle, when Eakautauwheke was slaying those to the right and left of him 

 with his taiaha, Kana te Pu, watching his opportunity, sprang upon his shoulders, and held him 

 so firmly that he could not draw his arms back again. He tried in vain to shake him off; but by a 

 sudden movement of his hands he jerked the point of his weapon against the head of his opponent 

 and then, by a violent contortion of the body, succeeded in inflicting a mortal wound, and the 

 ' White Crane ' fell dead at his feet." 



It is very rarely that this bird is met with now in the North Island. The last occurrence that 

 I am aware of was an example shot by a young farmer at Foxton, in the Manawatu district, about 

 ten years ago. 



That excellent observer, Mr. William Townson, of Westport, writes to me: "A White 

 Crane was also shot by a boy, ignorant of its being protected, and came into my possession, 

 and is one of the ornaments of my collection. Another was seen on the mud-fiats near the 

 town about six months ago, and then went away to the north, and was for some time to be 

 seen about the flats at Karamea. There are now three of these birds living unmolested on the 

 banks of a small lake near Little Wanganui ; and, with the exception of one shot at Hokitika, 

 and an odd one or two seen about the Sounds, I know of no other birds of this species in the 

 district." 



It is an interesting sight to watch this stately bird fishing. It wades into shallow water as 

 far as its long legs will enable it, and then it remains perfectly motionless till its prey comes 

 within reach, when it will strike forward with the rapidity of an arrow, seize it with its powerful 

 yellow mandibles, and instantly swallow it. It is quite possible, as suggested by the Duke of 

 Argyll in the case of an allied European species, that the small fish are attracted by the gleaming 

 reflection in the water of the bird's snowy plumage. 



Order AEDEIFOKMES.J 



[Family ARDEIDiE. 



NOTOPHOYX NOY^-HOLLANDIJ. 



(WHITE-FRONTED HEEON.) 



Ardea novae-hollandiae, Latham; Buller, Birds of New Zealand, vol. ii., p. 134. 



I have a specimen in my collection which was driven ashore on Centre Island, in Foveaux Strait, 

 after a very heavy gale at sea. 



On the mud flats of the Tauranga Inlet, I saw one in the winter of 1892, and I then 

 remembered that I had observed one in exactly the same locality when crossing the bridge seven 

 years before— quite likely the same individual bird. The species is very sedentary and has 

 been known to frequent the same spot for years together. 







