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Sydney Porter—Notes on New Zealand Birds


NOTES ON NEW ZEALAND BIRDS


By Sydney Porter

{Continued from Vol. XI, page 445)


The Long-tailed Cuckoo (Urodynamis taitiensis)


A Maori told me that in the old days before the coming of the

white man, the first call of the Cuckoo was a signal for the planting

of the kumeras, the native sweet potato, and even to-day should a

native run out of these vegetables, his neighbours will ask, “ Where

were you when the Cuckoo called ? ”


This very handsome Cuckoo is a migrant to New Zealand from

the Western Pacific Islands, and I frequently made its acquaintance

in the Urewera country, and also at the Little Barrier. At first sight

it rather resembles an immature European Cuckoo, but on close

examination it will be found that the plumage is most beautifully

patterned with varying shades of brown. It is a fairly lengthy bird,

but of exceeding slimness. Its call was one of the most characteristic

sounds of the forests on the Barrier, but the bird itself was very

impatient of observation. It is not a common bird on the mainland,

but is plentiful in the island sanctuaries.


It mainly hides away in the dense bush, for as soon as it emerges

into the open it is persecuted by the smaller birds, especially by the

Tuis. These birds make combined assaults on the Cuckoo and use

every endeavour to drive it from the neighbourhood.


Whilst at Waikaremoana I spent the whole of a morning observing

one of these handsome birds. It seemed practically tame, but I rather

think that it was too frightened to leave its leafy refuge owing to the

abundance of Tuis in the vicinity. Usually the birds are very difficult

to observe. On the Barrier Island the birds seemed to utter their

extremely loud notes from the higher foliage of some of the giant

forest trees, such as the kauri, etc. So shy and retiring is it that one

finds it very difficult to become acquainted with much detail of its

wild fife.


The New Zealand Kingfisher (Halcyon s. vagans)


This fine Kingfisher is a very near relation of the Australian Sacred

Kingfisher [Halcyon sanctus), and is distributed over the whole of New



