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Foi some days they refused to eat anything but huhu ; but by degrees they yielded to a change 
of food, and at length would eat cooked potato, boiled rice, and raw meat minced up in small 
pieces. They were kept supplied with a dish of fresh water, but seldom washed themselves, although 
often repairing to the vessel to drink. Their ordinary call was a soft and clear whistle, at first 
prolonged, then short and quickly repeated, both birds joining in it. When excited or hungry, they 
raised their whistling note to a high pitch; at other times it was softly modulated, with variations, 
or changed into a low chuckling note. Sometimes their cry resembled the whining of young puppies 
so exactly as almost to defy detection. 
I had afterwards another captive Huia, which came from the ifa^s-covered hills at Wainuio- 
mata. Ihis bird became very tame, knew me well, and always welcomed my approach by making a 
melodious chirping note. He was fond of fresh meat, chopping it up into very small pieces with his 
bill, making a sound like the tapping of a Woodpecker as he cut up his dinner on the floor of his 
cage. He ultimately made his escape, and although he remained about the gardens and shrub- 
beries of Wellington for more than two months, consorting freely with the Indian-Minahs, and 
occasionally indulging in a flight over his old habitation, he seemed to prefer freedom to captivity, 
and remained at large; but disappeared at last, having probably fallen a victim to the catapult of 
some city larrikin. 
Dr. Dieffenbach, in forwarding his specimens of the Huia to Mr. Gould, in 1836, wrote : “ These 
fine birds can only be obtained with the help of a native, who calls them with a shrill and long- 
continued whistle resembling the sound of the native name of the species. After an extensive 
journey in the hilly forest in search of them, I had at last the pleasure of seeing four alight on the 
lower branches of the trees near which the native accompanying me stood. They came quick as 
lightning, descending from branch to branch, spreading out the tail and throwing up the wings.” 
On the first occasion of my meeting with this species in its native haunts, I was struck by the same 
peculiarities in its manners and general demeanour. In the summer of 1867, accompanied by a friend 
and two natives, I made an expedition into the Euahine ranges in search of novelties. After a tramp on 
foot of nearly twenty miles through a densely wooded country, we were rewarded by finding the Huia. 
W e were climbing the side of a steep acclivity, and had halted to dig specimens of the curious vege- 
tating caterpillar ( Sjohceria rohertsii), which was abundant there. While thus engaged, we heard the 
soft flute-note of the Huia in the wooded gully far beneath us. One of our native companions at 
once imitated the call, and in a few seconds a pair of beautiful Huias, male and female, appeared in 
the branches near us. They remained gazing at us only a few instants, and then started off up the 
side of the hill, moving by a succession of hops, often along the ground, the male generally leading. 
M aiting till he could get both birds in a line, my friend at length pulled trigger ; but the cap 
snapped, and the Huias instaptly disappeared down the wooded gully. Then followed a chevy of 
some three miles, down the mountain-side and up its rugged ravines. Once more, owing to the 
dampness of the weather, the cap snapped, and the birds were finally lost sight of. I observed that 
while in motion they kept near each other, and uttered constantly a soft twitter. The tail was 
partially spread, while the bright orange lappets were usually compressed under the rami of the 
lower jaw. 
We camped that night near the bed of a mountain rivulet, in a deep wooded ravine, and soon 
after dawn we again heard the rich notes of a Huia. Failing to allure him by an imitation of the 
call, although he frequently answered it, we crossed to the other side of the gully, and climbed 
the hill to a clump of tall rimu trees ( Dacrydium cu/pressinum ), where we found him. He was 
perched on the high limb of a rimu, chiselling it with his powerful beak, and tearing off large pieces 
of bark, doubtless in search of insects ; and it was the falling of these fragments that guided us to 
the spot and enabled us to find him. This solitary bird, which proved, when shot, to be an old male, 
had frequented this neighbourhood (as we were informed by the natives) for several years, his notes 
c 2 
