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duck ; and Mr. Gould, in writing of this species in Australia, declares that it is addicted to the 
stealing of eggs. On the other hand, I have seen it assailed by the Common Sea-Gull (Larus domi- 
nicanus) on approaching the nest of this bird, and put to an ignominious flight. 
It is worth recording that the Harrier will sometimes pursue on the wing. Hiding along the 
road near the Whenuakura river, on one occasion, I observed a Kahu pursuing a small bird (appa- 
rently a Ground-Lark) high in the air. The pursuit was continued for a considerable time, the Hawk 
making frequent swoops and the small bird eluding its grasp by suddenly altering its course and thus 
gaining on its pursuer. When nearly out of sight the Hawk was joined by another, both in pursuit 
of the same bird, from which circumstance I concluded that the raptor was foraging for hungry ones 
at home. This might account for the eagerness of the pursuit, and for a mode of chase which I had 
never observed before during a very long acquaintance with this species. 
Mr. Hamilton, of Petane, states that he has on two occasions surprised the Harrier in the act ot 
devouring an eel in the bed of a shallow creek. 
When travelling through the Waikato district in July 1883, I observed one of these buds 
hawking in the rain. Although a heavy shower was falling the Harrier continued to hover without 
any apparent inconvenience, only occasionally shaking the raindrops off its tail. 
It is said to be very destructive on the sheep-runs during the lambing-season ; and 1 have been 
assured by eye-witnesses that three or four of them will sometimes detach a lamb from the flock, and 
then, assailing it from different points, tear out the animal’s eyes and ultimately kill it. I am of 
opinion, however, that these attacks are confined to the weakly or sickly lambs of the flock, and occu.i 
only in times of great famine. Be that as it may, the practice of poisoning Hawks in the lambing- 
season has now become very general ; and I have known upwards of a hundred of them destroyed m 
this manner, during that season, in a single locality. It is accomplished by rubbing a small quantity 
of strychnine into the body of a dead lamb or piece of offal, and leaving it exposed on the run. I he 
poison takes immediate effect, and often eight or ten birds are thus destroyed in the course of an 
hour. As stated in my former edition, on one station alone in Canterbury upwards of a thousand 
Hawks per annum were destroyed in this manner during the preceding two or three years, and, as an 
almost necessary corollary of this, rats became excessively abundant on this particular sheep-run. I 
have always been of opinion that the wholesale killing of Haw ks in a country like this is a question- 
able policy, from a utilitarian point of view, as it tends to alter the balance of nature, and to interfere 
with the general conditions of animal life, already too much disturbed by the operations of Acclima- 
tization Societies. The rapacious birds have an important part to perform in the economy of nature ; 
and species like the present, which are partly insectivorous, are too valuable to the practical agricul- 
turist to be destroyed with impunity, although they may occasionally attack a sickly lamb in the 
flock, or swoop on an inviting young turkey. The damage to a flock where these Hawks abound is, 
no doubt, greatly overrated. It is true, however, that this species does sometimes hunt in packs, for 
I have counted as many as twenty of them at one time hovering over a small mob of sheep 
detached from the main flock ; and three of them have been seen to attack a full-grown turkey, and, 
acting in concert, to overpower and kill their quarry. 
The natives take this species by means of flax snares, arranged in such a manner that the bird, 
in attempting to grapple the bait, gets its legs entangled in a running noose, which its efforts to escape 
only serve to tighten. I have frequently taken it alive by means of a steel tiap, with muffled edges, 
baited with a dead rat or chicken. When shot at, and wounded in the wing, it attempts to escape 
by a succession of leaps along the ground, and, on being overtaken, defends itself vigorously with 
beak and claws, its beautiful golden eyes sparkling with passion. In captivity it is at first fieice, 
throwing itself backwards when approached, and striking forwards with its long talons ; but it soon 
becomes reconciled to the situation, and permits itself to be stroked with the hand. I he late Captain 
