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Sydney Porter—Notes on New Zealand Birds



was never possible to get a glimpse of the birds themselves, except

perhaps an odd bird which was picked up dead on the road having

been killed by a motor car. It was only upon going to Kapiti

Island that I saw Wekas in the bold and aggressive condition in

which they were in when the country was first colonized. Here they

were exceedingly familiar, living around the caretaker’s house on

the look-out for any scraps of food, etc.; and although nocturnal in

their habits, they could be seen at any time of the day feeding

upon clotted milk which was left in pails in the open. So bold

and aggressive did these birds become that at last a wire-netting

fence had to be erected round the garden to keep them away. Even

now odd ones manage to get through the fence and wander into the

house picking up any small article and running away with it.

I once saw one carrying away a watch with a waistcoat attached

to it! I heard of a man who was very proud of an expensive set

of false teeth, as they were very costly years ago in New Zealand.

Once when in a forest he espied a nest high up in one of the trees :

this he endeavoured to reach, but before ascending the tree he took

the precious teeth out for safety, placing them on a log, but just as

he reached the nest a Weka quietly slipped out of the undergrowth

seized the teeth, and disappeared. Search as he could our friend

never found the teeth and, needless to say, never forgave the whole

tribe of Wekas.


These birds never seem to miss anything in the way of food, and

woe betide any picnic party who leave their lunch unattended for

a short space of time where the birds are found. Mr. Wilkinson,

the caretaker of Kapiti Island, told me many interesting things

about these birds as he had been very familiar with them for many

years. He said that they were the greatest enemy of all ground¬

nesting birds as they invariably destroyed both eggs and young

ones. Often when a nest was being photographed a Weka would

come to investigate and destoy the nest and contents. He told me

of a young Weka which he once caught out of a family party, and

upon being restored again to the others, the female at once set upon

it and would have killed it, had it not been rescued in time. He

also mentioned that once he took the eggs from a Weka’s nest but,



