232 Sydney Porter—Notes on New Zealand Birds


fill with mud, the food pots are turned over and the contents


emptied. It is also necessary to have wire or boards 2 or 3 feet


below the surface, or the birds burrow out. Mice and rats


*


stand little chance in an aviary where the birds are, in fact in

the wild state it preys largely on these obnoxious introduced

mammals and in that way helps to counteract the harm it does in

destroying native birds.


The call of the Weka is a shrill scream which can be heard from

a great distance. Heard on a lonely road in the stillness of the

night it is apt to be rather upsetting to one’s nerves. The bird

also makes a low noise exactly like that of a motor boat.


Very few wild Wekas which I saw looked in good plumage.

I think this may possibly have been that the birds fight a great

deal, though some birds which I saw in captivity were in remarkably

good condition, the plumage having a wonderful gloss.


Four species of Woodhens are recognized by naturalists, one

from the North Island and three from the South. Although the

Black Weka (Gallirallus troglodytes) is not supposed to be found

in Stewart Island, I have seen a very dark form there which is

certainly not the South Island species. I also saw a pair in

captivity which had come from Stewart Island which were undoubt-

ably the Black species. These birds were very attractive, being very

tame and in the most wonderful condition, the plumage having

a remarkable gloss which I have never seen in any other bird. This

pair of birds reared young ones every year. Unfortunately I was

not in time to secure a pair. This species is certainly the most

striking of the four and in life appears to be a glossy mottled

black. After death the feathers fade to a dirty blackish brown.


On Stewart Island their calls can frequently be heard in the

late evenings and the birds are often seen as the twilight falls,

creeping about the damp coastal forests. These birds get most of

their food from the seashore, feeding upon dead fish cast up by the

tide and small Crustacea which they find amongst the seaweed.


Like the other three species this bird is disappearing from both

Stewart Island and the mainland, and there is little doubt that the

next twenty years or so will see the end of these intensely interesting



