14 
bird (a young male) appeared on the scene. He exhibited great excitement and was evidently at a 
loss to know what it all meant. Uttering a low, sibilant cry, with a tender pathos, he hopped down 
lower and lower, till within a yard or two of my head. I could easily have knocked the pretty 
creature over with a stick, but had not the heart to do so. I was less scrupulous, however, about 
having him caught, and in far less time than I take to write it, Eahui had selected a long stick, fixed 
a noose at the end of it, and slipped it over the bird’s head. The Huia nimbly jumped through the 
loop but was caught by the feet. On finding himself a captive, he uttered no sound, but, in the most 
practical way, at once attacked my hands with his bill, striking fiercely and repeatedly at a white- 
faced signet-ring. On the following day Eahui managed to snare another-, which was fortunately a 
female, thus making a pair of young birds. They became at once reconciled to confinement, eating 
freely of the huhu grub, and resting very contentedly on a perch to which they had been attached by 
a thong of flax. The young of the first year has a low and rather plaintive cry, easily distinguished 
from all other sounds in the forest, and pleasant enough to the ear. Our third and last day turned 
out wet and stormy ; but we nevertheless got some more Huias, our bag consisting altogether of 
sixteen birds, exclusive of the live ones. 
The Huia never leaves the shade of the forest. It moves along the ground, or from tree to tree, 
with surprising celerity by a series of bounds or jumps. In its flight it never rises, like other birds, 
above the tree-tops, except in the depth of the woods, when it hapjaens to fly from one high tree to 
another. The old birds, as a rule, respond to the call-note in a low tremulous whistle or whimper, 
and almost immediately afterwards answer the summons in person, coming down noiselessly and 
almost with the rapidity of an arrow. Occasionally a shy old bird refuses every allurement, and takes 
himself quietly off. These knowing ones are distinguished by the bird-hunters as Huia-paoke. 
Young birds answer the call, although somewhat feebly, but do not, as a rule, present themselves. 
With these, it is necessary to mark down the direction, and follow them up with gun or snare. 
They are generally met with in pairs, but sometimes a party of four or more are found consorting 
together. 
Its food consists largely, as already stated, of the huhu grub ; but it also subsists on the weta and 
other insects of various kinds, and the berries of such trees and shrubs as hinau, porokaiwiria, pou- 
kaka, and karamu. In the stomachs of those which I opened I found hinau berries ( Elceocarpus 
dentatus ), orthopterous insects, caterpillars, and the remains of a large spider ; and Mr. Drew 
informs me that birds skinned by him had been feeding on the green and brown Mantis. 
Within its restricted habitat the Huia appears to maintain its position notwithstanding the 
wholesale slaughter of late years. To say nothing of the zeal of collectors, who obtain large numbers 
for the European markets, the natives annually kill a great many for the sake of their feathers. 
Eor example: a party of eleven natives went out for a month and scoured the wooded country lying 
between the Manawatu gorge and Akitio, and brought in 646 skins ; and a party of three men 
obtained a considerable number near Turakirai on the south-western side of the Wairarapa Lake. 
Other instances of the kind might be given, all tending to show that the struggle for existence with 
the Huia is becoming a severe one. Already the fate of several species which, a few years ago, were 
plentiful enough in these woods has been decided. In the course of our expedition, which extended 
altogether 27 miles beyond Masterton, we travelled over a broad extent of broken, wooded country, 
and, to say nothing of Korimako and Pitoitoi (which have long since disappeared), we never saw or 
heard the notes of either the Piopio, the Tieke, or the Hihi, all of which birds were at one time 
more numerous even than the Huia. The Zoster ops was everywhere abundant, also the Grey Warbler 
and Kifleman, and along the edges of the bush we found the Tomtit comparatively plentiful ; the 
Parrakeet chased its mate through the tree-tops with sharp cries of “twenty-eight”; the Tui, in 
its playful flight, mounted high in the sunlight overhead ; and among the tangle of the underwood 
the ever-present Flycatcher displayed its pretty fan-like tail. But, of course, the charm of these 
