208 Sydney Porter—Notes on New Zealand Birds


fruits, roots, buds, and green vegetables. There is but the very

remotest chance that the bird will ever be seen in this country

again. No stone should be left unturned in using every possible

endeavour to preserve this most unique of all the world’s birds.

If any reader wishes to read the life history of this strange bird

I would refer him to Buller, Birds of New Zealand , in which

is a very lengthy chapter dealing with the habits of this bird.


The North Island Thrush (Turnagra tanagra)


Of New Zealand’s two endemic thrushes, one of these, the North

Island species, commenced to disappear very soon after the

colonization of the country by the white races and a matter of

only forty years after it had been made known to science it was

reckoned as extinct, the last specimens being obtained in 1900.

Since that date it has never been heard of. I have good reason

to think that I saw an example of this supposedly extinct bird.

It was also seen by another member of our party who verified my

statement. I saw the bird twice, both times flying up a hillside.

I recognized it at once by being totally different from the introduced

thrush, a much bigger bird, a different coloured back, chestnut

tail, and thick, heavy beak, but owing to only seeing the bird from

above I was unable to see the chief distinguishing feature, the

white throat, but I have no doubt in my own mind that it was the

bird in question.


Like many of the other New Zealand birds which are called by

familiar names, these birds are not thrushes in the true sense of

the word, being very distinct and belong to a family confined

entirely to New Zealand.


The total disappearance of this fine bird is rather a mystery,

but I dare say forest fires, introduced carnivorous mammals, and

the inevitable pot hunter did much to hasten its departure from

this plane. Sir Walter Buller was perhaps the only person ever to

keep this species in captivity and his account is so interesting

that I have no hesitation in quoting it in full. He says of this

bird : “It was when I obtained a caged Piopio that I first became

acquainted with its superior vocal powers. In 1866 I purchased



