nectarinij:. 
6i 
Among the New Zealand birds there is a glossy black 
bird^ with a white-tipped tail^ which white colour^ joined with 
the yellowish bill^ and large wattle at its base^ gives a variety 
and a contrast greater than would be suspected. In New 
Zealand this bird w^as at one time common^ but its tail^ like 
many other tails and appendages^ excited the attention of 
warlike beaux of the Bay of Islands^ who^ on battle excur- 
sions and on other great occasions^ adorned their hair with 
them, so that the ^'Huia,'' or Neomorpha Gouldii (Plate IV. 
fig. 3), is now rather a scarce bird. Its beak is long, and 
curved into a semicircle, but is sometimes shorter : the 
natives regard the stout-billed as the male. 
The Eev. W. Yates, in his ^ Account of New Zealand^ 
(p. 61), refers to this bird under its native name of Huia, 
and speaks of it as residing in deep, long grass ; it feeds 
on worms and insects, and on a small berry called ponga.''^ 
Its flesh, he says, is delicious. Mr. Gould, in his ^ Birds 
of Australia,^ from communicated information says, that 
these fine birds are trapped by the natives, who imitate 
their shrill and long-continued wdiistle, and thus get them 
so near that they can kill them with their sticks. With 
their tails outspread and their wings thrown up, these birds 
must look singularly attractive. 
