THE



Avicultural Magazine


THE JOURNAL OF THE

AVICULTURAL SOCIETY



Fourth Series, —Vol, XL—No. 10.—All rights reserved. OCTOBER, 1933.



NOTES ON NEW ZEALAND BIRDS


By Sydney Porter

(Continued from page 357)


\ The Blue or Mountain Duck (Hymenolaimus malacorhynchus)


One of my disappointments in New Zealand was not seeing this

strange .and very rare, aberrant duck. I tracked it down to one of

its few remaining resorts, the Whakapapanui Biver on Mount Tongariro.

I searched in vain for this illusive creature, wandering far up the river

almost to the snow line and was rewarded only by finding a few

feathers. I was told by a road man that birds had been seen flying

upstream a few days before my arrival.


This very distinct duck is found only on the fastest flowing streams

■ and torrents which flow through the mountain forest and never

j frequents the low forest lands or the still open waters.


Never very common, this bird has become very rare, chiefly on

account of its tameness and lack of fear of man.


My hopes ran high of seeing this bird when one of the employees

.at the Chateau Tongariro told me that he had found a nest of eight

; young ones, but on his taking me to the spot I found that the supposed

I nest was only a shelter where the young ones had gone when frightened

by the man.


There was no doubt that the birds were there, for they were seen


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