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My late brother, Mr. John Buller, obtained a pair of these birds from a dealer in Dunedin in 
1869 ; and they lived in my aviary for more than a year. In captivity their habits differ in no 
respect from those of the species already described. I remarked, however, that one of them had a 
practice of mounting to a particular spot on the ledge of the aviary almost every day, and remaining 
in a perfectly motionless attitude for hours together. On one occasion a large brown rat effected an ■ 
entrance by undermining the aviary, and was killed and partly devoured by them ; and at another 
time a North- Island Woodhen {Ocydromus greyi\ which I had introduced, met with a similar fate. 
In fact, when deprived of its marine bill of fare, this species is quite as omnivorous as the others. 
In connexion with this, the ‘ Canterbury Mail ’ records the following case of anthropophagism : — 
“ A returned digger relates that he captured a Woodhen in the act of feeding on the remains of a man, 
and being himself almost famished he quickly devoured the bird. To use the words of a well-known 
banker in London, who is the gourmet par excellence of the day, — ‘ That man. Sir, would eat his 
own father ; he has the stomach of an Ostrich.’ ” 
Lady Barker, in her charming little book, ‘ Station Life in New Zealand,’ gives the following amusing 
account of her first acquaintance with the Woodhen: — “I lay back on a bed of fern watching the 
numbers of little birds around us. They boldly picked up our crumbs, without a thought of possible 
danger. Presently I felt a tug at the shawl on which I was lying. I was too lazy and dreamy to 
turn my head ; so the next thing was a sharp dig on my arm which hurt me dreadfully. I looked : 
round, and there was a Weka bent on investigating the intruder into its domain. The bird looked i 
so cool and unconcerned, that I had not the heart to follow my first impulse and throw my stick at i 
it ; but my forbearance was presently rewarded by a stab on the ankle which fairly made me jump up 
with a scream, when my persecutor glided gracefully away among the bushes, leaving me, like Lord 
Ullin, ‘lamenting.’ ” The same pleasing writer, in giving an account of the Island of Wekas in Lake 
Coleridge, observes : — “ No one can imagine how these birds came here ; for the island is at least two 
miles from the nearest point of land ; they can neither swim nor fiy ; and as every man’s hand is 
against them, no one would have thought it worth while to bring them over ; but here they are in 
spite of all the apparent improbabilities attending their arrival, more tame and impudent than ever ! 
It was dangerous to leave your bread umvatched for an instant; and, indeed, I saw one gliding off 
with an empty sardine-tin in its beak ; I w'onder how it liked the oil and little scales ! They con- 
sidered a cork a great prize, and carried several off triumphantly.” 
Mr. Keischek informs me that, at the West Coast sounds, long after dark, he observed a bird 
swimming near the shore and sent his dog into the water after it. On being pursued the bird 
dived; and on being captured it proved to be a Black Woodhen. It is as mischievous as its cousin 
of the plains. An enterprising one entered Reischek’s tent during the night and carried off his last 
candle ; and he surprised another, in the early dawn, carrying off one of his slippers. 
Although, as already mentioned, it frequents the sea-shore and feeds on the kelp, the last-named 
naturalist met with it also, but only on rare occasions, at an elevation of 3000 feet above the sea. 
From a place of concealment he once w^atched a Black Woodhen hunting for its food ; he observed 
that it scratched up the ground with its feet, just as a domestic fowl would do, and then picked it 
over with its bill. In illustration of its hardy nature, he told me that one which he had shot and 
hung up for a specimen soon revived and made its escape. Three days afterwards the dog caught it, 
and he found the body marked all over with shot. As might have been expected, his collection 
contained specimens in every condition of plumage. He found it very plentiful on the shores of 
Dusky Sound and of the Acheron passage ; those which he collected at a higher elevation appeared 
to be larger birds and in much finer plumage than those frequenting the sea-shore. 
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