Sydney Porter—Notes on New Zealand Birds



13



and wire, for catching a tiny and almost transparent fish found in the

rivers in the district.


The method of netting them was to wade into the stream, lay the

net on the bed of the river, weighted down by stones, then stir up

the mud at the bottom with one foot. This attracted the fish, and

as the shoal came over the net it was raised. In this way we caught

hundreds in a day. After this, the birds were fed on the fish and they

never looked back ; they ceased vomiting the food up, soon regained

their lost weight and would snatch the fishes as soon as they touched

the beak. They thrived apace, soon getting their feathers. At last

the day came to leave and return to Auckland ; the day before, we

collected a large bucketful of the koriwockas, as the Maoris in the district

called them, and put the reward of our many hours’ labours in a bucket

outside the farmhouse door, but alas ! half-a-dozen hungry ducks

discovered the succulent feast and made short work of it. The “ service

car ” left at 5.30 a.m. on an eighty-mile journey to catch the train,

so there was no time to get a fresh supply. There were thirty left,

one each per hour for the long railway journey. One is not supposed

to take livestock into the carriages, but it did not seem a very large

parcel, so I thought it would remain undiscovered. Every hour I took

the package to the rear of the carriage and fed the youngsters, but

after the first hour or two they protested against the inadequacy of

the food supply. Their cries were not so bad at first, but, as time went

on, they increased in volume until at last it sounded as though there

were two cats having a desperate fight in the compartment. It was

a slow train, a station every few miles ; as soon as the brakes began

to be applied, the wretched birds started calling louder until by the

time the train had stopped their cries were almost deafening. The

long saloon carriage was full almost to crowding capacity, and inquiring

looks were cast from all quarters in my direction. To say the least

it was extremely embarrassing. At the first station where there was

a buffet, I purchased ham sandwiches and tried to feed them upon

the ham, but no, they knew the difference between ham and fish, and

the former was speedily vomited up. I felt sure that the guard would

ask me to leave the carriage with my screaming charges, but as luck

would have it whenever he came in the din seemed to die down for

several minutes.



