Sydney Porter—Notes on the Cyanorhamphus Parrakeets 283


dreamed of being able to stand on the top of its inaccessible-looking

peak. But it proved easier than it looked. The climb was one of the

most interesting I have ever done ; up to 500 feet the way lay through

dense manuka-bush, which is a secondary growth, replacing the burnt

forest, after that the way lay through virgin forest of mixed growth

until, at about 1,000 feet, this changed to kauri forest, there being many

magnificent specimens of this giant forest tree. At about 2,000 feet

this changed into semi-alpine rain-forest. Here it was a veritable

fantastic fairyland, stranger than was ever pictured in the imagination

of man. Everywhere seemed a fantastic mixture of trees, rocks, ferns,

and mosses. In some places, strange as it may sound, it was like a fairy

cavern where it was impossible to tell which was the ground, the rocks,

or the trees. From the top it was possible to see the whole island, running

in precipitous forest-covered ridges from the sea to the culminating point

in the centre.


On the summit one stood in the clear rarified atmosphere in the

brilliant sunshine, far above the rolling white mist clouds which the

currents of air wove into strange wraith-like shapes. It was here that

one realized the true significance of the beautiful Maori name

“ Hauturu ”, meaning “ the resting place of the winds of Heaven


It was at a height of about 2,000 feet that we first heard the

chattering of Parrakeets, but it was a different note from that made by

the Red-fronted, a softer and more melodious sound. I realized almost

at once that it was the call of the Yellow-fronted Parrakeet from the

sound I had heard of a captive bird. But try as we would it

was impossible to see the birds ; the green of the plumage harmonized

so well with that of the trees that in the dim light of the forest it was

impossible to distinguish the birds. Fortunately on the way down,

not far from the summit, a pair of Parrakeets flew down into a low

sapling only a few feet away. One, to my surprise, proved to be

a Yellow-fronted and the other a Red-fronted. It almost looked as

though these were a pair, though this would be impossible. I watched

the bird which I took to be the hen for about a quarter of an hour ;

she was quite tame and appeared to take quite as much interest in me

as I took in her.


This delightful Parrakeet was at one time, fifty odd years ago,



