116 Bird-Song : and New Zealand Song Birds 
the tui, I .shall quote no more, but try to do him the justice he 
deserves by describing in meagre words a few of his notes and 
songs as I have heard them; though now that areas of bushland 
have been reserved and made sanctuaries, the tui will probably 
not become extinct, and whoso will may hear him in his native 
haunt. He lias in a measure, too, taken kindly to civilized life, 
dividing his attention at such times as the rata-like flowers of the 
Australian gum can afford him the honey he loves, between the 
plantations created by the colonists, and the natural forest which 
the same inconsistent being has almost destroyed. 
In the matter of quotation, an exception must be made in 
favour of Cook, who was struck, on 17th January, 1770, with the 
beauty of the early morning song of the New Zealand bush. 
The ship lay in Queen Charlotte Sound, “at the distance,” he 
v.lites (CV, Vol. 2, pp. 390-1), “of somewhat less than a 
quarter of a mile from the shore, and in the morning we were 
awakened by the singing of the birds: the number was in¬ 
credible, and they seemed to strain their throats in emulation of 
each other. This wild melody was infinitely superior to anything 
that we had ever heard of the same kind; it seemed to be like 
small bells, most exquisitely tuned, and perhaps the distance, 
and the water between, might be no small advantage to the 
sound. Upon enquiry, we were informed that the birds here 
always began to sing about two hours after midnight, and 
continuing their music until sunrise, were, like our nightin¬ 
gales, silent the rest of the day.” On the 31st January he 
wiites (CV, Vol. 2, p. 401), “In the evening, we had a strong 
gale from the N.W., with such a heavy rain that our little wild 
musicians on shore suspended their song, which till now we had 
constantly heard during the night, with a pleasure which it 
was impossible to lose without regret.” A different quotation 
is given by Bolton (BH, Vol. 2, p. 23), when writing of the 
nightingale: .Yet that some birds of a similar kind 
inhabit the islands of the Southern Ocean may be gathered 
from the Journal of Captain Cook’s First Voyage, about the 
20th January, 1770; where it is stated that, ‘an amazing 
number of birds usually began their melody about two o’clock 
