NEW ZEALAND GLACIERS. 449 
and all night they kept upa constant whistling, accompanied by a 
kind of grunting noise. On the stream hard by we had an 
inexhaustible supply of blue ducks (Hymenolaimus malacorhyn- 
chus); there was never many to be seen at a time; but when we 
shot three or four on one day, a couple of brace more would 
occupy the same part of the stream next morning. They were 
not wild, so in order to save cartridges we generally pelted stones 
at the birds to get them together, and then tumbled two or three 
in the one shot, 
Far more wild, though quite as numerous, were the Paradise 
ducks (Casarca variegata). These were splendid birds, in habits, 
mode of flight, and note, resembling geese rather than ducks ; 
and the male, with his white head, kept such a good look-out, 
that various stratagems had to be adopted ere we secured one for 
the pot; 
There were a few mosquitoes and sandflies, but the large blow- 
fly was the greatest source of annoyance. A coat or a blanket 
could never be laid on the ground for half an hour with im- 
punity ; even my mackintosh was considered a good receptacle 
for their eggs; but we kept them from our cold mutton and ducks 
with a few yards of mosquito net; and, after all, having your 
coat full of maggots does you no harm, so long as they do not, 
like the larvz of moths, feed on the material. 
We were astir at the dawn of February 17th, and, as soon as 
we had our packs ready, and the tents secured against all wekas 
and other possible invaders during our absence, we started for 
the glacier. On reaching a pack which I had sent on to the foot 
of the moraine, we re-arranged our loads, Kaufmann and Boss 
dividing all they had to carry into four loads, while my “swag” 
was as quite as much as I could manage over the rough ground, My 
men adopted the plan of carrying each one load for an hour or 
so, and then, setting it down, scrambling back again for the 
others, thus making the whole journey twice. In this manner 
we arrived at the camping-ground we had chosen, near the shore 
of a little blue lake, where the whole drainage of the valley that 
forced its way beneath the boulders bubbled forth to the surface. 
The lake was embosomed in dense scrub, which here clothed the 
high moraine and the mountain sides. This scrub was composed 
of dwarf pines ; birch, or more correctly beech (Fagus) ; veronicas, 
sixty species of which are indigenous to New Zealand, and scrubs 
of Podocarpus, Coprosma, Dracophyllum, &c., and as we came 
along we could not resist eating the sweet red berries of Podo- 
carpus nivalis, though at the time we did not know what ill 
effects might ensue. Of smaller plants, the fine white Ranun- 
culus lyallit was everywhere abundant; it goes by the name of 
Mount Cook lily among the colonists, and we found its large 
succulent leaves most useful in our hats as a protection against 
the fierce rays of the mid-day sun. A little white violet became 
common from this camp upwards, and ferns nestled under the 
shade of every damp rock. 
Keas, or Mount Cook parrots (Vestor notadilis), now made 
