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It is well known, as already stated, that birds are good natural barometers. The height to which 
they rise in the air renders them susceptible to the slightest change in the temperature of the atmo- 
sphere; and they are thus warned of approaching changes in the weather. Thus the continuous 
screaming of the Bush-Hawk is understood by the natives to be a sure indication of change ; and they 
have a common saying “ Ka tangi te Karearea &c.” (If the Karearea screams in fine weather, ’twill 
soon rain ; if in rainy weather, ’tis about to clear). Wilson, the American ornithologist, in treating 
of the Fish-Hawk (. Pandion haliaetus ), states that when these birds are seen sailing high in air, with 
loud vociferations, “ it is universally believed to prognosticate a change of weather, often a thunder- 
storm in a few hours On the faith of the certainty of these signs, the experienced coaster 
wisely prepares for the expected storm, and is rarely mistaken.” I have met with some remarkable 
instances of this unerring instinct in the species under consideration, and this, at times, when the 
glass gave no indication of a coming change. 
The Bush-Hawk is generally met with on the outskirts of the woods or among the dead timber 
of native “ wairengas,” these localities being favourable for mice, on which it laigely subsists. I 
once observed a young male of this species playing in the air with mice, after the manner of a cat ; 
and the sight was as pretty as it was novel. When I first observed the bird, he was perched on the 
naked limb of a tree, apparently engaged in examining his quarry. Then mounting in the air with a 
mouse in each of his talons, and expanding his wings and tail to their full extent, he dropped first, 
one mouse and then the other, and instantly darted after them, catching them in his talons before 
they reached the ground, then mounting high in the air again to renew the feat. Ultimately losing one 
of the mice, he discontinued his play, and, returning to the tree, killed and devoured the remaining one. 
Formerly this spirited little Hawk was very common in the Hutt Valley and in the wooded 
suburbs of Wellington ; now it is rarely, if ever, seen there. The last instance I know of was in 
April 1883, when a Sparrow-Hawk, after sailing inquisitively over the city and hovering for a time 
above the Colonial Museum— uttering all the time its shrill cry, as if in defiance of taxidermists and 
naturalists in general— eventually settled in the blue-gums in my garden, where it remained for 
half an hour ; and then, after another rapid survey of the town, disappeared over the hills in the 
direction of Makara. A few years more, and the clarion cry of this fierce little hunter will be a thing 
of the past ! Its appearance on this occasion was quite unusual, for my gardener, who is an old 
Wellington settler, declared he had not seen or heard the bird for more than ten years before. 
I may mention that this species, unlike the generality of Hawks (so far as 1 am aware), may be 
attracted by an imitation of its cry. Biding along alone one fine autumn evening through the 
country at the northern end of Lake Taupo, on my way to Ohinemutu, I saw what appeared to be a 
Bush-Hawk come out of the woods at some distance and descend into an old or deserted Maori 
garden. By way of experiment I imitated the clamorous cry of this bird when on the wing ; and in 
a few minutes the Hawk (a fine young male) came sailing up to me and performed several circuits in 
the air immediately overhead, and then took up his station on the dry limb of a tree close by the 
road, where he remained till I was out of sight. 
The natives state that this little Hawk usually builds its nest in a bunch of puwharawhara, 
often at a great elevation from the ground, forming it rudely of loose materials ; that it lays generally 
two, but sometimes three eggs ; and that the young birds remain on the tree for several days after 
quitting the nest. The puwharawhara ( Astelia cunninghamii) is a parasitical plant, with short, 
thickly set flag-leaves, radiating upwards from a clump of roots by which it adheies firmly to the 
parent tree. These plants, which often attain a circumference of many feet, are very common on the 
forks and naked branches of aged or withered trees on the outskirts of the foiest, a single tiee some- 
times supporting twenty or more of them. A better situation for a Hawk s nest than the centie of 
one of these plants could hardly be selected, combining as it does the requisites of waimth, secuiity, 
