The departure from any fixed locality usually begins on almost the exact date 

 year after year; and for a week or ten days after the migration has commenced 

 fresh parties are constantly on the wing, the flight generally taking place about 

 sunset^ and sometimes after darke" Does it not soem likely that a pecplo of 

 our own Aryan stock might easily translate this truly wonder "Working episode 

 into the belief, so firmly held by most aboriginals, of a happy hunting ground 

 to which journey the spirits of the dead when this fitful fever called life 

 has run its course?- 



Not only is the Parson-bi rd ( Pr o sthema der ma no v ae - z ea land ia e ) or Tui, as 

 he is called by the Maoris, one - of the mo st striking but he is also among the 

 most interesting of the New Zealand avifauna,, Imagine a bird about the size 

 and general appearance of our coomon crow, generally of a metallic bluish or 

 greenish black, the upper part of his neck wearing a collar of gray, thread- 

 like plumes with an outward curve. There is also a prominent white spot near 

 each shoulder, and from the throat of the adult bird hang two tufts of white, 

 curly feathers that look for all the world like the white bands of an 

 ecclesiastic! Moreover this prominent "choker" can readily be seen as the 

 bird flies about from tree to tree; and it is impossible to mistake him for 

 any other species, In the Auckland district he is most likely to be found in 

 the "ranges", so, one fine day, E, and I, accompanied by Kr 3 R, A„ Falla, 

 (R.A.O.U.) of Devonport made a field trip to these hills where we saw a number 

 of Tuis, beautiful Pied Fantails ( Rhipidura f la belli fera). Silver Eyes, 

 (Zosterops caerulescens ) , and many another beauty in the tree ferns, shrubs and 

 other foliage; while, flying high in air, was a flock of Black Swans, a Eawk 

 (probably Nesierax australis ), a colony of Parrots - very likely of the intro- 

 duced Rosella Parakeet - and a number of others. Me took our luncheon on the 

 slope of a gulley whose sides and bottom were covered with a wonderful array 

 of Tree Ferns, while our table-cloth (rug) was spread on a bed of Pew Zealand 

 bracken of sufficient thickness to raise it well above the level of our feet. 

 Here, while we discussed our simple meal with an outdoor appetite, Falla, an 

 experienced ornithologist, gave the Tui call and before long there was an 

 answer from the depths of the forest. Then two birds came within plain sight, 

 and after looking us over approached so that with our glasses we could study 

 them in every detail, even to the whitish line that separates the nuchal 

 feathers and the white spots on the wings, 



Greenbie, (The Pacific Triangle - 1921 says of the Parson Bird:- "No 

 sound of bird in any of the many countries I have been to has ever: 

 filled me with greater rapture than did this. 



There are thousands of skylarks in Hew Zealand, brought from England, but 

 had Shelley heard the Tui he might have written an ode more beautiful even 

 than that to the "blithe spirit" he has immortalized," High praise that'. 



The same author also refers to the lamentable decrease and disappearance 

 of most of the varieties of bird life in New Zealand which, by the way, seems 

 to be true of almost every other country that civili2ed man has invaded,***** 

 "the feathery folk have vastly decreased since the coming of the white man. No 

 wonder that a Maori chief, in complaining of the decay of his race, said 

 'Formerly,, when we went into the forest, and stood under a tree, we could not 



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