1922. j Bathgate.—Changes in Fauna and Flora of Otago. 277 
quail seems to have occurred in Nelson, an early settlement, a good many 
years before it took place in Otago lends some colour to this view. On 
the other hand, the only quail I ever saw in the flesh were three which 
were shot in 1870 at Waitati (or Blueskin, as it was then called), which was 
a much more settled district than localities in the interior whence the birds 
had disappeared many years before ; but it is possible that these may not 
have been native quail as was supposed, but Australian quail ( Synoecus 
australis), which were imported here in 1868 and 1870. Any of the causes 
first given would account for the gradual extinction of this bird in any 
locality, but a virulent epidemic would explain its suddenness. It is, 
however, fruitless to speculate nowadays on such a phenomenon, which 
must, I suppose, remain a mystery. 
The burning of the native grasslands is certainly the cause of the 
extinction of the fern-bird (Sphenoeacus punctatus) —never, I believe, nearly 
so numerous as the quail, and which I never either saw or heard in the 
immediate vicinity of Dunedin, though it was not uncommon in the Moly- 
neux Valley and other inland districts. It was oftener heard than seen, 
its cry “ utick ” being unmistakable. It evidently emitted a strong scent, 
as dogs used to get quite excited and hunt for these birds among the clumps 
of strong fern and rough herbage, and they probably bore a part in their 
extermination. 
The weka, or Maori-hen, as it was usually called ( Ocydromus australis), 
another bird of the open country, which is now only met with occasionally 
in far-back regions, was plentiful and widely distributed throughout the 
province, but the stoats and weasels have killed it off, as they have done 
the native robin ( Miro albifrons). I do not recall having ever seen a 
robin in the bush near Dunedin, but I first made its acquaintance in 
a bush growing in a gully on the Beaumont Station, in the Lawrence 
district. Robins were plentiful in the beech forests of the Wakatipu 
district; but the last time I was in that locality not one was visible, and 
on speaking to a resident at the head of the lake he informed me he had 
not seen one for years. 
Probably the almost complete disappearance of the yellow-breasted 
tit (Petroeca macrocephala) from the immediate neighbourhood of the city 
is due to the same cause. I am informed they are still to be seen on 
the Opoho Hill, but formerly they were pretty numerous about the Town 
Belt and in suburban gardens. They are now only rare visitants in 
the winter, when the bell-bird (Author nis melanura), or mokomoko, as it 
was called by the Otago Maoris (not makomako, as in the North), also 
visits us. Yet in 1864 and for some years after this bird was as 
numerous all round the city as thrushes and blackbirds are now, if not 
more so. In those days I began collecting bird-skins and noted down a 
few particulars, such as the colour of the eyes, and in the book the 
remark opposite the bell-bird was “ common,” which confirms my 
recollection. Indeed, I can well recall being (like Captain Cook in Queen 
Charlotte Sound) awakened by the concert of the bell-birds when living 
at Montecillo, just across the Town Belt, as near the house there were 
some remnants of native bush as well as blue-gum trees ( Eucalyptus 
globulus) in flower. 
The tui ( Prosthemadera novae-zealandiae) , which also occasionally visits 
our gardens, was not nearly so numerous as the bell-birds, but was certainly 
a much more frequent visitor than it is now. Parakeets were abundant, 
both the red-fronted (Cyanorhamphus novae-zealandiae) and the yellow- 
