THE GODWIT 
75 
THE MAGPIE 
SONG—Clear flute-like notes, an hour or more 
before sunrise. 
PLUMAGE— Head, glossy blue-black; upper 
parts, black and white; breast and under the wings, 
white. 
FOOD—Insects only, when in the wild state.. 
NOTES—Imported from Australia. Magpies 
mate for life—unusual among bn ds. T. hey ai e great 
fighters and will defend a nest against marauders, 
even human beings, with great ferocity. Have been 
known to attack a picnic party settled near the tree 
containing their nest. 
THE GODWIT 
“Godwits, and also several other wading birds, 
such as turnstones, the golden plover and knots, 
come to New Zealand for the summer. Unlike the 
cuckoos, which lay their eggs while in New Zea¬ 
land, they make their nests and raise their young 
in Siberia, Alaska and other countries of the far 
north. The best-known of these visitors is the bar¬ 
tailed godwit, often miscalled "snipe ’ or “curlew.” 
It usually assumes its summer plumage of spotted 
and streaked chestnut and black feathers before it 
leaves New Zealand in the autumn. Its food con¬ 
sists chiefly of worms, molluscs, vegetable matter 
and small crabs which it obtains during low tide 
on the mud and sand flats near the sea. It is called 
“kuaka” by the Maoris, and in the early days they 
caught large numbers for food by means of flax- 
made nets and snares, suspended from stakes driven 
into the sand. These were set at low tide, and the 
birds were caught after nightfall with the addi¬ 
tional aid of lighted torches." (See p. 51.) E.G.T. 
