FOREST LAND. 
17 
imitate the cawing of the rook, to make the de- 
ception complete. When, however, you draw 
near the grove, all the illusion vanishes ; and 
what in the distance had been taken for the nests 
of large birds, are found to be only parasitical 
plants, ever green, and preserving their own 
life and vigour many years after the trunk, upon 
which they are borne, has lost its vitality, and has 
become leafless, branchless and dry. Another 
very peculiar feature in the wood and forest^ 
scenery of New Zealand is the growth of the 
palm and the fern-tree, the latter of which is a 
very remarkable plant. It generally grows from 
twenty to thirty feet in height ; has six large 
leaves, forming a crown, at the top, and, from 
their immense size, shading the stem of the plant 
from the rays of the sun. These leaves put 
out annually ; and appear above those of the 
former year, which begin to die away, and hang 
down, when the volutes of the new shoot are 
perfect, and are about bursting forth into leaf. 
The very light green with which these leaves are 
tinged, gives a pleasing variety to the whole, and 
charms the eye with a beautifully softened lustre. 
These, the most curious of the umbelliferous 
fcribe, choose the coolest retreats; and seem to 
endeavour, though unavailingly, to hide their 
majestic heads under the copse-wood by which 
they are surrounded. 
The forest-land is peculiarly rich : indeed, were 
it not so, it would be utterly impossible that the 
