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Sydney Porter—Notes on New Zealand Birds



Perhaps it is for the best that the restrictions are on the hard

side, for it shows that at least there is some interest in the

preservation of the native fauna, but in spite of every effort on

the part of the Government I am afraid that the Kiwi will

disappear ere long from the mainland of New Zealand. Perhaps

in future days, when sea travel is cheaper, ornithologists will be

able to visit that island paradise and see far themselves these

strange birds in their natural setting and bless those far-sighted

people who set aside this beautiful island for the preservation of

their wonderful avifauna.


The Shining Cuckoo (Lamprococcyx lucidus)


Of all the smaller New Zealand birds this is perhaps the most

beautiful. It strongly reminds one of the wonderful Shining

Cuckoos of Africa. It was two months after landing in New

Zealand that I first saw one of these illusive creatures; previously

I had heard the strange and very distinctive whistle which caused

the Maoris to call them “ pipiwarauroa ”, which word they say

resembles their call, but I am afraid that this needs a very great

stretch of imagination.


It was only upon coming to the Little Barrier that I made

an intimate acquaintance with it. The first pair observed were in

the garden of the caretaker’s house, where I found them busily

clearing the fruit trees of caterpillars upon which these birds

mainly feed. Like all the other birds of this island they were

comparatively tame and allowed one to approach them within a few

feet and watch them at their work.


Up to this last few years the winter quarters of this bird were

unknown. It was surmised that they wintered in the islands in

the Eastern Pacific. But recently they have been found in the

Solomon Group. They leave New Zealand in the early autumn

(January or February) returning in the summer at the end of

September or the beginning of November. Its habitat is rather the

outskirts of the forest than in the interior. It frequents orchards

and gardens, proving a great blessing to fruit growers by

clearing the fruit trees of insect pests, especially the caterpillars



