81 
Another ahnonnal example in my collection (represented by the distant figure in my Plate) has the 
wings pure white^ with an occasional touch of colour, and the rest of the plumage as in the ordinary bird 
with here and there a single white feather. 
The Swamp-hen is widely distributed over Tasmania, the greater part of the continent of Australia, 
New Zealand, and the Chatham Islands. It occurs also in New Caledonia ; and the Maoris have a 
tradition that tame ones were brought by their ancestors, in their migration from the historic 
“ Hawaiki.” It is abundant in our country in all localities suited to its habits, such as marshes, 
flax-swamps, and lagoons covered with beds of raupo and rushes. It also frequents the banks of 
freshw'ater streams ; and in places contiguous to these haunts it is accustomed to resort, in the early 
morning, to the open fields and cultivated grounds in quest of food. It subsists principally on soft 
vegetable substances, but it also feeds on insects and grain. By the aid of its powerful bill it pulls 
up the inner succulent stems of the raupo, or swamp-reed, and nips off the soft parts near the root, 
holding the object in the toes of one foot while feeding, something after the manner of a Parrot. It 
is a noticeable fact that in many of the settled districts its numbers have perceptibly increased within 
the last few years, owing, no doubt, to the greater abundance of food afforded by the farms and 
plantations of the colonists *. Large flocks of them may often be seen spi'ead over the stubble-fields, 
or diligently at work in the potato-grounds or among the standing corn. On being disturbed, they 
generally run to the nearest cover, only taking wing when pressed or when suddenly surprised. They 
rise from the ground rather awkwardly, the legs dangling and the wings being hurriedly flapped ; by 
degrees the trailing legs are raised to the level of the body ; and the flight then becomes more steady, 
but is nevertheless laboured and heavy. As a rule, they fly only a short distance, dropping into the 
nearest shelter that offers itself, and trusting for escape to their swiftness of foot ; when fairly mounted 
in the air, however, they are capable of a rather prolonged flight, as I have sometimes had an opportunity 
of witnessing. They swim well, and dive when driven to it. Wounded birds invariably dive, and by 
this means conceal themselves till all danger has passed. 
The late Mr. Henry Mair, in 1877, met with numbers of these birds in the kumara plantations, on 
Savage Island (Nieue), w’here there was no marshy ground for them to frequent. Indeed there was no 
water even on the island except what oozed from the sand between the tide-mark and that which 
could be found at the bottom of deep clefts or fissures, hardly accessible to these birds f . 
The Swamp-hen may fairly be considered one of the best of our native birds. The brightness of 
its plumage and the extreme elegance of its movements at once arrest and please the eye, while, on 
the other hand, it is in very good repute as a game bird. It is interesting to watch it as it strides 
proudly about, balancing its body wdth ease on its long slender legs, jerking its head gracefully, and 
flirting its tail with every movement. Along the sedgy margins of the lagoons and swamps it affords 
good shooting, although it is impossible to flush it without a retriever ; and, if hung sufficiently long 
and properly dressed, it makes an excellent dish. When stewed the ffesh is hardly to be distinguished 
from that of the Capercailzie. 
It is naturally shy and timid ; and although I have on several occasions obtained very young ones 
from the swamps, and reared them with every care, I have never succeeded in completely subduing 
their wild nature. Some years ago, however, I had the pleasure of seeing, in the Government Domain 
* Captain Mair informs me that at Whangarei (north of Auckland), during a period of fifteen years — from 1850 to 1865 — 
he never saw one in that district. After that date they began to make their appearance, and now they are comparatively 
plentiful, being met with in flocks of twenty or thirty together. 
t Me landed on Booby Island, a curious mass of coral rook with no other vegetation than a few stunted bushes and some 
coarse grass, where we nevertheless found some Quail and two or three kinds of Land-Rail, one of them identical with the Pukeko 
of New Zealand.”— SiV Tyrone Poiver. 
VOL. II. M 
