134 
till the end of that month. As is always the case with migratory birds, there are occasionally 
stragglers arriving before the appointed time or lagging behind the departing Sights 1-or example, 
I have a record of their occurrence in Auckland as earl, as Augnst 17th, and I have met with a 
solitary bird in the south as late as April. 
This is undoubtedly the most tropical-looking of our birds. The glancing of the sunligh on 
its burnished plumage is very effective, especially, too, when the bird is seen resting on the bare 
stems of the quasi-tropical Cordylim, or feeding on the green-and-gold cicada, which is so abundant 
there ^ 
• In New-Zealand sooner, then, is m„eh to remind one of a tropical eon,, try. The ottered clump, of •' eabb.gWreo,” in 
th. open ..<1 the nik.n-p.lm, in the deep weeded gullies h.ve quite . tropie.l .speet, and the wild insuu.nee of the evergreen 
Lh bring, vividly to mind the rank prodigality ef a Mb forest. To she. that this is not a mere play of fancy, I mil give 
here a leaf from my own diary containing an account of a day at Rio do Janeiro : , 
« We landed from the S.S. ‘ Tongariro ’ at 9 a.m. on the 1st April, and came on board again before midnight, havmg span 
a very pleasant, day on shore. On landing, we walked through the market-place, which was interesting, then up t e.prmcipa 
street, through which no wheeled vehicles are permitted to pass. The passage is narrow and the balconies are overhanging, 
giving it the appearance of a street in Constantinople. Many of the shops are most attractive in heir mnltifanous e.hibi s- 
fcather-plumes rare butterflies, and brilliant beetles being not the least interesting objects. At the street corner we t 
tramcar and after one or two changes, proceeded to the railway station, passing on our way some fine public and private buildings 
notably a marble palace, the property of a rich coffee-planter. Many of the gardens are very beautiful, bemg 
tropical flowers of every hue. After a short delay at the station, we entered the railway carnage and started up the Corco ardo 
line From the commencement to the finish at the peak' the trip was one of unmitigated enjoyment. The day was clear as crystal, 
with the sun hot and bright ; and the scenery was enchanting. The railway line, which ascends spirally at a gradient of 1 , 
is something quite unique. Looking down into the deep gullies, I was often reminded of our beautiful A ew-Zcaland bush m the 
t^led richness of the vegetation. There was the same character of forest-growth, the same crowding together of the tree-top , 
the'same wealth of lianas, vines, and epiphytes, but all on a more luxuriant scale. In place of onr Asteha cunmngtemn, with its 
narrow flag leaves, the trees were laden with large clumps of some tropical species with leaves six inches in width ; m place of 
our tiny-flowered orchids there were magnificent tropical species with gorgeous blossoms There was along the waj side a dense 
undergrowth in every shade of green, but the leaves were larger and the foliage richer than in the ATew-Zealand woods whilst in 
the places exposed to the sun beautiful flowers of brilliant hues added the charm of high colour to this sylvan picture The 
ground below the forest trees was covered with vigorous young plants of many kinds; hut the eye sought m vain for that ever- 
present charm of the New-Zealand hush, the carpet of spreading ferns and mosses. Here and there could be seen a tuft o 
maiden-hair or a clump of Pteris struggling to assert itself, hut nothing to remind the observer of the glorious beds of Lomaria, 
the fields of Asphnium bulUfemm , and the other beautiful forms so familiar to the wanderer in our native woods. As our tram 
moved slowly up the side of tho mountain, the eye seemed never tired of gazing on this view of tropical growth, rendered t o 
more conspicuous by clumps of banana-trees and groups of beautiful palms, lifting their tops proudly above the forest \egetation, 
whilst hu"e masses of crimson and purple flowers lightened up the rolling landscape of living green. . 
“Then all ahum the line brilliant butterflies of every size and colour fluttered in the warm sunlight; glorious morp os, 
-.a spread of six inches and of the richest metallic blue, hovered, hawk-like, among the trees ; large black-and-grey 
‘ swallow-tails ’ winged their way like Swifts among the lower vegetation; crimson Danaidse and smaller forms of differen 
i ' n opnrlpt -olden-yellow green, or spotted— rested on the loaves or hovered over the flowers, almost within reach of our 
“ artuallf .aught b, the hand ton the earrtage window,. Then here and there a tiny humming-tard 
drifted patty »m. tang art , . T suspended ^ „ a „ ot or .pinning kke a moth 
r mate. Such wet. th, right, ot tropical Wellness through which w. passed on out way t. 
through th — °”do ^.e riew from this print, which is just 2200 feet .bore th. sea-Wel, baffle, description. The 
W-,“Zgp.no .let ... and land, the w.ndrou. ...hiperig. in to. and th. gl.rieu. ^phi.heatre .f nr.nnWn. behind-on 
thermo band th, beundlcss Atlantic, cn the other the towering peak .£ Teehuka, 3300 feet h.gh nstng cut ot tap valley, filled 
rith topioal forests , then, contracting the scop, of vision t. the left, the city of Iti. in all ... gnamt omental beauty ly.ng 
wl ,« fa, down o th, plains, it, snbnrb, of villa. and garden, spreading away for ntde. and far a, the eye «™h, write 
tie right, nestling a. it were in an illimitable expanse of ornamental shrubbery, are he T.tan.eal Dardens, w* them double 
r: lUritd pi. in porf«t symmetry, tbei, feather, rip. ...rod nearly a hundred feet abort .the ground, pr»entmg a 
”eri,c ef u, parallelled b.ant, , then, still further contacting the seep, ot ™,on. th, s.des of th. Core. Yard, and th. deep 
ravine below, clothed and filled with a perfect tangle of tropical vegetation, wildly exuberant rt. growth, prisonttng ever, rim 
If greon and enlivened with spreading Ior.1 n»«. of purple and white. Th. view whteh burst upon » when .. took onr 
Ind on th. topmost peak of the Core. Yard, w„, in short, one which no h.tnsm artst could depret and no word, describe , 
a view to he gazed on once and then remembered all through life ! ” 
