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being familiar to the people who passed to and fro along the Otairi track leading to Taupo. On 
asking a native how the Huia contrived to extract the huhu from the decayed timber, he replied 
“by digging with his pickaxe an expression which I found to be truthfully descriptive of the 
operation ; and on dissecting this specimen I found an extraordinary development of the requisite 
muscles. The skin was very tough, indicating, probably, extreme age. The stomach contained 
numerous remains of coleopterous insects, of the kind usually found under the bark of trees, also one 
or two caterpillars. 
On skinning the two sexes, it is at once apparent that the head of the male is formed on a 
different model to that of the female. In the latter the skin peels off very readily, but in the male 
the head seems too large for the neck. This difference is occasioned by the greatly developed 
muscles, forming a rounded mass or cushion on each side of the occiput, which enables this sex to 
wield his chisel in the effective manner described. 
In October 1883, I made a special expedition into the mountain-forest in quest of the Huia; 
and as it will serve to complete my history of the species, I have transcribed the following narrative 
from my note-book : — 
Taking the early train from Wellington to Masterton on the 9th, I met Captain Mair by 
appointment, and we forthwith made our arrangements for a start on horseback at daybreak. Instead 
of a fine day, as we had hoped, the morning opened with a heavy shower, which somewhat delayed 
our departure, and the day turned out drizzly. Our road lay through a bush and along a highway 
which had been formed but not metalled. The mire was knee-deep for the horses, and, for most 
part of the way, it was very toilsome work. The distance to be traversed was only twenty miles, the 
first four of which were over a hard road ; but the shades of evening were closing in around us by the 
time we reached our camping-ground at the foot of the Patitapu range, and our Maori attendant 
(Rahui) had barely time to fix up our tent and collect “ whariki ” for bedding before thick darkness 
had set in. Our approach to this camping-place lay along the edge of a wooded ravine. On the 
opposite side from us there was a grove of tall manuka trees, several hundred acres in extent. Rahui 
informed us that this was a favourite resort of the Huia when feeding on the weta or tree-cricket 
( Deinacrida thoracica). The dull russet-green of the manuka bush was relieved on the sides of the 
ravine by those ever changing, ever beautiful, light-green tints so characteristic of our New-Zealand 
woods. Here and there a shapely rewarewa reared its tapering top, spangled all over with bunches 
of crimson flower, while along our path were fringes of the scented pukapuka with its dark green 
leaves, showing their silver lining as they yielded to the breeze, and covered with a profusion of cream- 
coloured inflorescence. At intervals might be seen a leafless kowhai laden with a wealth of beautiful 
golden blossom, and in the more open parts of the widening valley clumps of Cordyline with their 
waving crowns of green ; whilst, adding immeasurably to the charm of the whole scene, the star-like 
clematis, in huge white clusters, hung everywhere in graceful festoons from the tangled vegetation. 
Down in the bed of the ravine, and hiding the babbling brook, the stunted overhanging trees were 
for the most part clothed in a luxuriant mantle of kohia, kareao, and other epiphytic plants. 
Such was the spot in which we first heard the soft, whistling call of the Huia ! Rahui imitated 
the cry, and in a few moments a fine male bird came across the ravine, flying low, taking up his station 
for a few seconds on a dead tree, and then disappearing, as if by magic, in the undergrowth below. 
Our guide continued to call, but the Huia was shy and would only respond with a low chirping note. 
But this was enough, and led us to where he was engaged, apparently grubbing among the moss on 
the ground. We shot the bird, which proved to be in beautiful plumage, and Rahui accepted this as 
an earnest of our success on the morrow. 
Our camp was selected as only a native can select in the bush. The spot fixed upon was a 
gentle slope under the shadow of a three-stemmed tawhero ( Weinmannia racemosa), sheltered all 
round by close-growing porokaiwiria, torotoro, and other shrubby trees, and the whole fenced in, as 
