and valleys of Otago he is very scarce.

He is disappearing from Ashburton, West Oxford, and Tauranga, and is considered extinct at Wairio and other places.

Our striped rail, water-crake, and swamp-crake, with the bittern and the pukeko, remain only in such portions of our islands as are undrained so far as swamp exists. Mr. Hamilton reported them common at Petane in 1885, and I quote from the Trans. New Zealand Inst.: "A cat belonging to a neighbour has brought me in during the years 1881-1883 seventeen specimens of this crake and twelve specimens of the next species (Tabuensis). Both of these birds abound in the raupo swamps of the district, but are extremely difficult to obtain unless a friendly mouser takes the matter in hand." If one cat could do this damage twenty-three years ago there is little wonder that these birds are now seldom seen.

Whether our takahe still remains deep in the fastnesses of the West Coast time alone will show. Probably in some of the yet untrodden millions of acres of south-west Otago we shall light upon him. He is much too big and powerful for the weasel, so that if he is in the forests at this day he will remain till such time as man and dog rout him out.

The pukeko, a conspicuous bird, with slow laborious flight, is fast going-his swamps extensively drained, his nests easily found. To a great extent gregarious and easily potted in numbers, slow and stupid in getting out of range, exchanging his original diet of lizards, worms, and small birds' eggs for the product of the farmyard and paddock, he falls a prey to poisoned grain and gunshot. He is still found fairly common in the great swamps of the north, but near habitations he is very rare. I see he is plentiful near Wanaka, and is blamed for a lot of egg-stealing; and at Parua Bay he is credited with destroying crops of maize. He is on the increase at Waimate, Streamlands, and Waikaka Valley, and is held as common at Ramarama, but elsewhere throughout the Islands he is very scarce. Grain-poisoning caused his downfall; where such has been abandoned he shows signs of increase.

It

There remain our ducks-those beautiful birds which we allow to be slaughtered year after year. Our blue-duck still exists in North Canterbury in great numbers, and on some of the inaccessible inland lakes and in the Maruia Forest may be found nesting in trees 20 ft. or 30 ft. from the nearest creek. seems a pity that numbers of our inland lakes are not made sanctuaries, and stiff fines imposed on law-breakers. I think the "sport," who represents a very small proportion of our people, should have his daily bag curtailed-say, three to six pairs of grey-duck, teal, or paradise; or, if popular feeling

could be aroused, put a stop to native-bird shooting altogether, and preserve for all time our splendid creatures.

The paradise duck can be seen in many places in immense numbers; and in the Maruia Forest he abounds, but as this is settled he will go. This is one of the loveliest birds we have, and might well have protection. A friend described to me how he surprised a pair, with ten small ones, on a branch of the Buller River. The old birds instantly took to the water of the swollen rushing torrent, and, beak to tail, sailed diagonally across, with all the tiny ones resting safely above and against them as they bravely breasted the turbulent stream. A more beautiful device or a more marvellous display of instinct could hardly be imagined.

Our grebe and dabchick, expert divers, remain in fair numbers on some of the lakes in Nelson and Otago. Alert enough to escape gunshot, diving at the flash, breeding in hidden places, living more in lagoons and lakes than swamps, escaping in this way the fate of the swamp birds, useless as food, too clever for the sportsman, and protected by the Government, they survive, and let us hope will long survive, their less fortunate brethren.

Our sea-birds I have touched on. Our shags, though shot at and destroyed in great numbers, remain with us: breeding in rookeries in almost inaccessible positions, feeding on freshand salt-water fish, they have a better chance. Our penguins, though slaughtered in millions for oil on the outlying islands, remain and will remain when our present generation has been forgotten.

Dr. Cockayne urges the setting-apart of Stewart Island as a sanctuary for our flora and fauna. Let us of the New Zealand Institute give the utmost assistance in urging this matter on our local Members of Parliament. What a magnificent scheme; what pleasure it will give the tourist of the future and our children's children to be able to go in two days to an island teeming with the kiwi, kakapo, weka, tui, mocker, pigeon, kaka, robin, fantail, tomtit, and canary—all these and more abounding, and making the forest welkin ring!

In addition to this, I should urge the preservation of such areas as Maruia: 1,000 acres of virgin bush (totara and pine), teeming with bird-life, is plotted, and being felled for settlement. Here the kiwi and weka are common; weasels are plentiful; kakapos are very rare; tuis, mockers, wrens, and robins are very common; tomtits not so common; fantails plentiful; canaries very common, in flocks; pigeons very common; kakas shot in hundreds; and paradise and other ducks very common indeed. Surely as good, if not better,

agricultural land can be obtained elsewhere, at less cost. Why hack down, burn, and destroy splendid timber land in one part of the country and feebly attempt to sow and replant with trees other parts? Why make an attempt to preserve our native birds by providing sanctuaries in parts where birds are scarce, when in other parts, where the birds exist in myriads, we wantonly and by law exterminate and destroy them?

Thus have we taken a hurried survey of our avifauna, birds many of them unique in the scientific world. The least valuable for game, the poorest songsters, the least interesting still survive in considerable numbers; the battered ranks of the rest tell the sad tale. It is indeed pitiful reading, this passing of the New Zealand ornis.

ART. XLIV.-The Little Barrier Bird-sanctuary.

By JAMES DRUMMOND, F.L.S., F.Z.S.

[Read before the Philosophical Institute of Canterbury, 2nd October, 1907.] By the courtesy of Mr. T. E. Donne, General Manager of the Department of Tourist and Health Resorts, and of Mr. R. H. Shakespear, Conservator of the Little Barrier Bird-sanctuary, I was able, at the beginning of 1907, to spend a fortnight on the island sanctuary, and to observe some of the birds there.

The numbers of our birds have been greatly decreased in recent years. Species have been driven out of districts with the advance of civilisation, and many birds which were once plentiful in nearly all parts are now found only in secluded spots. But I do not think that the position is as bad as it has been freely reported to be. Extensive inquiries have convinced me that we are justified in striking a much brighter note than has been struck by writers on ornithology in this country for a long time. It is quite probable that no native bird has been completely exterminated since Europeans came to New Zealand; there is, at any rate, no absolute evidence to show that any New Zealand bird has been exterminated during the past sixty years. The great destruction which has been wrought, however, has placed our birds in a distressing position, and a visit to one of their sanctuaries has a deep interest for all New Zealanders.

The Little Barrier Island is four miles and a half long and three miles and three-quarters wide. It lies forty-three miles

north-east of Auckland, in the mouth of the Hauraki Gulf. Cape Rodney, the nearest mainland, is fifteen miles to the west, and the Great Barrier is twelve miles to the south-east. Although the island is only 10,000 acres in area, no human being has crossed it. This is accounted for by its extremely rough and rugged character, which adds to its suitableness for a birdsanctuary.

I took an early opportunity of seeing the birds. There was no difficulty in this respect whatever. Large numbers of them came close to Mr. Shakespear's house, flying in his garden, and making themselves quite at home. I had only to go outside my tent to see scores of bell-birds, whiteheads, tuis, tomtits, fantails, and other small species. They are not interfered with in any way, and, as they have confidence in the members of Mr. Shakespear's family, who are the only residents on the island, they show no signs of fear. Guided by my observations, I should say that the bell-bird (Anthornis melanura, the korimako and makomako of the Maoris) is the most plentiful. It is found in all parts of the island, and seems to be present in countless numbers. The best feature of its presence is the fact that it is increasing at a fairly rapid rate. Its nest is often found in thick manuka and bush within fifty yards of Mr. Shakespear's house. Mr. Shakespear told me that in the previous season a pair safely hatched out their brood in a clump of manuka overshadowing the meat-safe, ten yards from the back door. Twenty years ago Sir Walter Buller said that "it is only a question of a few years and the sweet notes of this native songster will cease to be heard in the grove, and naturalists, when compelled to admit the fact, will be left to speculate and argue as to the causes of its extinction." A visit to the Little Barrier sanctuary shows that there are no grounds for adopting such a pessimistic tone. If the bell-bird was chased entirely off the mainland-which is a remote probability according to reports received lately-there is every likelihood that it will live on the Little Barrier as long as the forest there is preserved and the sacred character of the island is maintained.

I saw the North Island robin (Miro australis) several times. I was delighted with the little whitehead (Certhiparus albicapillis), another bird which the North Island claims as its exclusive property. On the Little Barrier the whiteheads exist in very large numbers. Scores of them came hopping and flitting down to watch me make my way through the thick manuka, and followed me as long as I remained in the manukaclad parts of the island. The whiteheads and the fantails seem to be very friendly, and a flock of whiteheads may often be seen accompanied by two or more fantails.

The time at my disposal on the island was drawing to a close before I saw a stitch-bird (Pogonornis cincta, Maori hihi). Two days previous to my departure I was given the privilege of an interview. I was one of a party of five or six. We were on our way to the Heri-Kohu Peak, and at noon, when we were walking along a bushy track, a stitch-bird, which had come down from the heights, flitted about in an excited manner on the boughs above our heads. When its cry was imitated it came closer, and flew among some saplings, uttering a cry which might be written "steech, steech," repeated quickly several times. The bird was a female. She ran along the boughs, carrying her tail erect, at almost a right angle with her body, and her wings drooping. She turned round several times, and was the very embodiment of motion. Her cry hardly ceased, and there were very few moments when she took her black eyes off us. We saw seven stitch-birds on that occasion. They were all females. This is rather strange, as the female is described by several naturalists as being specially shy and retiring. The ttchbirds I saw on the Little Barrier were very tame. They had no fear, and even when a stone was thrown into the trees on which they alighted, they only flitted off to another bough. The locality which they favour with their presence most is in the north of the island. The haunt can be visited only with great difficulty and inconvenience. There these birds are numerous, and as many as fifteen have been counted at one time.

I saw a good deal of the white-breasted tits, which came near my tent every morning and gave me many opportunities for watching them as they flitted about in the low scrub. They have a peculiar method of alighting on a tree. The tits seem to be utterly devoid of fear, and they make close friends with all visitors to the island.

I saw many other native birds. Tuis are present in large numbers. The two migratory cuckoos-the long-tailed cuckoo (Urodynamis taitiensis) and the shining cuckoo (Chalcococcyx lucidus) come regularly in their seasons, and depart again for their other homes across the sea. In the summer the longtailed cuckoo's note may be heard at almost any time of the day, and also at night. I have heard the loud, shrill, and piercing "whirrt, whirrt," continued for nearly a quarter of an hour, ringing out over the gorges at intervals of from six to twenty seconds.

I did not hear the song of dawn on the Little Barrier in its perfection. It can be heard at its best only in the spring, and the time of my visit was too late in the season. In the spring months, as soon as the dawn appears, all the birds burst