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The Pamphlet Collection of Sir Robert Stout: Volume 22

II.—Zoology. — Art. XIX.—Notes on the Ornithology of New Zealand. By Walter L. Buller, C.M.G., Sc.D., F.L.S

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II.—Zoology.

Art. XIX.—Notes on the Ornithology of New Zealand. By Walter L. Buller, C.M.G., Sc.D., F.L.S.

Following a plan which I have pursued for some years, I beg to lay before the Society a budget of notes on various species of New Zealand birds, without any attempt at systematic arrangement. As natural history is made up chiefly of facts and observations, every recorded note is an additional contribution, however small, to the general fund. Facts, in themselves trivial, are often found to assume an importance in relation to other facts; and a random note sometimes supplies a missing link in the carefully elaborated chain of the systematic philosopher.

It will be seen that in the following notes I have embodied, sometimes in my own language and sometimes in his, the observations of Captain Gilbert Mair, F.L.S., who, during a long residence on the East Coast, has paid special attention to the native birds inhabiting that part of the country. In addition to habits of careful observation, he possesses a good knowledge of the birds themselves, and this adds very much to the value of his statements.

Before proceeding to my own notes, I desire to call attention to the following passage in a very interesting paper by Mr. W. Colenso, F.L.S., published in the "The Tasmanian Journal of Natural Science," as far back as April, 1845, which I have only lately had an opportunity of reading:— "A little below Ngaruawahie (in the Waikato district) we met a man in a canoe with a live and elegant specimen of the genus Fulica. I hailed the man and purchased the bird, which he had recently snared, for a little tobacco. It was a most graceful creature, and, as far as I am aware, an entirely new and undescribed species. Its general colour was dark, almost black; head grey and without a frontal shield; fore-neck and breast ferruginous red; wings barred with white; bill produced and sharp; feet and legs glossy olive; toes beautifully and largely festooned at the edges; eye light-coloured and very animated. It was very fierce and never ceased attempting to bite at everything within its reach. I kept it until we landed, intending to preserve it, but as it was late, and neither material at hand nor time to spare, and the animal too, looking so very lovely that I could not page 192 make up my mind to put it to death, I let it go; it swam, dived, and disappeared. From its not possessing a frontal shield on the forehead (which is one of the principal generic marks of the Linn, genus Fulica) it may possibly hereafter be considered as a type of a new genus, serving to connect the genera Fulica and Rallus. Not a doubt, however, in my opinion can exist, as to its being naturally allied in habit and affinity to the Fulicœ; I have therefore named it Fulica novœ-zcalandiv. In size it was somewhat less than our European species, F. arua."

The bird so well described by Mr. Colenso is evidently quite distinct from Fulica australis, the only species of coot known to inhabit Australia, and as it has never, so far as I am aware, been heard of since this capture, more than thirty years ago, we may fairly conclude that it is one of the ornithic forms that have become extinct within the memory of man.

Nestor meridionalis, Gray.—Kaka Parrot.

This bird is very abundant in the Urewera country, and during the short season the rata is in bloom the whole Maori population, old and young, are out kaka-hunting. An expert bird-catcher will sometimes bag as many as 300 in the course of a day; and at Ruatahuna and Mangapohatu alone it is said that from 10,000 to 12,000 of these birds are killed during a good rata season, which occurs about every three years.

There are several modes adopted for catching the kaka, but the commonest and most successful is by means of a trained mokai or tame decoy, the wild birds being attracted to artificial perches, skilfully arranged around the concealed trapper, who has simply to pull a string and the screaming kaka is secured by the leg, as many as three or four being often taken at the same moment. At the close of each day the dead birds are buried, and when a sufficient number have been collected they are unearthed, stripped of their feathers, fried in their own fat, and potted in calabashes for winter use, or for presents to neighbouring tribes. The perches used for kaka-trapping are often elaborately carved and illuminated with paua shell.

Eudynamys taitensis, Gray.—Long-tailed Cuckoo.

During its sojourn with us this species is generally met with singly or in pairs, but Captain Mair gives the following interesting particulars of a summer flight:—"Passing down the Hurukareao river, in the Urewera country, during the intensely hot weather of February, 1872, I was astonished at the number of koheperoa that coursed about overhead. During the three days that we were making the passage, I saw some hundreds of them, swarming about in the air like large dragon-flies, as many as twenty or thirty of them being sometimes associated together. The loud clamour of their notes became at length quite oppressive. There page 193 was much dead timber on the banks of the river, and it appeared to me that the birds were feasting on the large brown cicada. This is the only occasion on which I have observed this species consorting as it were in parties."

Chrysococcyx lucidus, Gould.—Shining Cuckoo.

Respecting our little migratory cuckoo, Captain Mair furnishes the following notes:—"Speaking from ten years' observation of this bird in the Tauranga district, I may state that it never sings after the middle of February and seldom after the beginning of that month. As late as the end of March or beginning of April, during several successive years, I have met with these birds in the Mangorewa forest between Tauranga and Rotorua, but never heard them utter a note at this season. I have seen numbers of them perched in silence on the branches of the poporo (Solatium nigrum), always in full feather, but absolutely songless. This I regard as a very curious fact. On the subject of their parasitic habit of breeding, I may add that on two occasions I have seen the young cuckoo fed by the grey warbler—a bird considerably its inferior in size; and I can further attest, from personal observation, that the same little bird performs the like parental office for the young of the koheperoa, or long-tailed cuckoo, as sketched in Dr. Buller's 'Birds of New Zealand.' "

Pogonornis cincta, Gray.—Stitch-bird.

Captain Mair informs me that this handsome bird is still plentiful on the West Coast between Raglan and Waikato Heads, also in the ranges behind the Wangape Lake in the Lower Waikato.

It was formerly comparatively abundant in the wooded hills around Wellington and flanking the Hutt valley, but for some years past not a specimen has been obtained.

Anthus novæ-zealandiæ, Gray.—New Zealand Pipit.

In former papers I have mentioned the frequent occurrence of albino ground-larks, and commented on the remarkable tendency generally to albinism in many other species of bird in New Zealand—a fact not easily accounted for in a temperate and equable climate like ours. This abnormal feature appears to be extending itself to the introduced birds, and the following newspaper clipping furnishes an instance;—

"As an ornithological curiosity an up-country paper mentions that a gentleman residing near the Wairarapa Lake has noticed on his run two English larks, the one being puro white and the other as yellow as a canary."

Rhitidura fuliginosa, Buller.—Black Fantail.

Since my last notice of this species, three more instances of its occurrence in the North Island have come to my knowledge.

page 194

Major Mair reports another example from the Pirongia ranges in the Waikato;* a second has been met with in the bush near Major Marshall's (Upper Rangitikei); and a third is reported from Auckland. Of the last-mentioned Mr. T. F. Cheeseman, the Curator of the Auckland Museum, writes me:—"You will be interested to hear that a solitary individual of the black fantail has been repeatedly seen near Auckland this winter. It was first noticed by Mr. James Baker in his garden at Remuera; afterwards it visited Mr. Hay's nursery garden where it remained for some weeks; and it has since been noticed about several of the residences at Remuera. I was fortunate enough to see it one evening when walking home, and can consequently vouch for its being the South Island species. Its occurrence so far to the north is certainly very remarkable."

Carpophaga novæ-zealandlæ, Gray.—Wood-pigeon.

At the Rev. Mr. Chapman's old mission station at Te Ngae (Rotorua), formed in 1835, and now much out of repair and overgrown, there are several hundred acres of sweet-briars, run wild and presenting quite an impenetrable thicket. During the autumn months, when the red berries of the briars are fully ripe, large numbers of our wood-pigeons resort to these grounds to feed on this fruit, and at this season become exceedingly fat.

In the Rev. Mr. Spencer's fine old garden at Tarawera, where well-grown specimens of English oak, elm, and walnut mingle in rich profusion with almost every kind of native tree and shrub, a pair of these birds some time ago took up their abode and bred for two successive years, at a spot not fifty feet from the reverend pastor's study windows. And they would doubtless have continued to breed in this quiet retreat had not one of the Maori school-boys, anxious to try his fowling-piece and wholly unmindful of the occasion, shot both birds during the breeding season, leaving a pair of callow young to perish miserably in their nest.

Tringa canutus, Linn.—The Knot.

Mr. Cheeseman, of Auckland, sends me the following note, under date August 14:—"Has the knot (Tringa canutus) been previously recorded from the North Island? My brother shot a specimen (in winter plumage) in Hobson Bay a few months ago, and the skin is now in the Museum. I believe that I have frequently seen it on the extensive mud flats near the mouth of the Thames river."

This is the first authentic record of this species in the North Island; but Captain Mair has described to me a bird found associating, in considerable numbers, with the kuaka and dottrel on the East Coast, which I have no doubt is the same. It has not, however, been met with yet on the Wellington coasts; and the only specimen in the Colonial Museum is one which I

* Vide "Trans. N.Z. lust.," IX, p. 330,

page 195 received from Dr. von Haast some years ago, as a novelty from the south.

Limosa novæ-zealandlæ, Gray.—Godwit.

Captain Mair has contributed something more to the history of this migratory wanderer. In my account of the species* I have stated that our godwit spends a portion of the year in Siberia, and visits in the course of its annual migration the islands of the Indian Archipelago, Polynesia, Australia, and New Zealand. Von Middendorff, who met with these birds in great numbers in Northern Siberia (74–75° N. lat.), states that they appeared there on the 3rd June, and left again in the beginning of August. In the months of September and April, Swinhoe observed migratory flocks on the coast of Formosa; and during the winter months he met with the species again still further south. Von Middendorff found it also in summer on the south coast of the Sea of Ochotsk, although it did not appear to breed there; and it has likewise been observed in China, Japan, Java, Celebes, Timor, Norfolk Island, and the New Hebrides. I have already described the manner in which they take their departure from this country, at the North Cape, towards the end of March or beginning of April. Rising from the beach in a long line and with much clamour, they form into a broad semi-circle, deployed forwards, and, mounting high in the air, generally take a course due north. Sometimes they rise in a confused manner, and, after circling about at a considerable height in the air, return to the beach to reform, as it were, their ranks, and then make a fresh start on their distant pilgrimage. The departure from any fixed locality usually begins on almost the exact date year after year; and for a week or ten days after the migration has commenced fresh parties are constantly on the wing, the flight generally taking place just after sunset. The main body fly in silence, but the straggling birds cry out at intervals, while endeavouring to overtake the flock in advance. Near the North Cape, Captain Mair has observed them flying northward in tens of thousands, and always in considerable flocks, numbering from 700 to 1,200 birds in each, and the wonder is where they all come from. During the period mentioned, this excitement of departure is unabated—flocks forming and following each other in perpetual succession. Though the greater number of the birds migrate, some remain with us during the winter, and it is not unusual, even in mid-winter, to see a flock of several hundred consorting together on the sand-banks. It has been remarked that at this season they are much tamer and more approachable than at other times. On their return to this country they do not make a sudden appearance, but gradually become more plentiful after the first week in November, and about Christmas they are in full force again all along our sea shore. Capt. Mair has sometimes observed

* "Birds of New Zealand," pp. 199, 200.

page 196 a party of stragglers in Sulphur Bay, in the Rotorua Lake (about forty miles from the sea coast), no doubt brought inland by the easterly gales, which sometimes prevail for a considerable time without intermission. On the Tauranga coast he has obtained large "bags" during the shooting season; and on one occasion, at Cemetery Point, killed ninety-seven at a single shot with a heavy charge of No. 5 from an ordinary fowling-piece. This will give some idea of their numbers, and of the close manner in which they were packed together. Thousands were crowding upon each other on an insular sand-bank, and numbers more were hovering overhead in the vain attempt to find a footing among their fellows. As he was "shooting for the pot," he concealed himself with floating kelp, and crawled up under water till the birds were within easy range.

The natives catch large numbers of them by spreading flax snares horizontally on manuka sticks twelve or fifteen feet high, and arranged in the following manner:—A number of stakes are driven into the ground at equal distances so as to cover the area of the customary resting-place. A perfect network of flax-loops or running nooses, about twelve or fifteen inches in diameter, are then spread or hung in such a way as to form a canopy or roof supported by the stakes. The birds on assembling in the evening fly low and take up their position on the resting-ground to wait for the ebb of the tide. At this conjuncture the natives spring out from their concealment with lighted torches. The birds at once rise vertically, in confusion and alarm, and large numbers become entangled and caught in the running loops, sometimes as many as 200 being captured at one time in snares covering a space of twenty by forty yards. These snares are only set on calm and dark nights, for the obvious reasons that, if there was any wind, the loops would become disarranged, and that on moonlight nights the birds would see the nets and avoid them. Sometimes during wet easterly weather in summer the feathers of these birds become so saturated that they are unable to fly. The natives take advantage of this and capture large numbers of them by running them down.

From what has been said, it may be inferred that they are esteemed good eating by both settlers and Maoris. The latter always cook the bird unopened, and devour the contents of the stomach with a relish. When very fat they are potted in the orthodox fashion and "calabashed" for future use.

I have never met with a native who could tell me anything about the breeding habits of the godwit, and it has become a proverb amongst them: "Who has seen the nest of the Kuaka?" Nor has the egg of this species yet been met with in any of the other countries which it is known to visit.

page 197

Limnocinclus acuminatus, Horsf.—Sandpiper.

Dr. von Haast having allowed me to examine a specimen of this bird killed at Lake Ellesmere in the month of December, I have been able to add the following description to my former notes on this interesting addition to our avifauna:—

Crown of the head and lores dull rufous; each feather centred with brown; nape, hindneck, and the whole of the mantle brownish-grey, slightly tinged with rufous, each feather largely centred with dark brown, which gradually fades into grey; lower part of back, rump, and upper tail-coverts blackish-brown, slightly margined with rufous; wing feathers dark brown with white shafts, the superior coverts largely tipped, and the secondaries narrowly margined with white; small wing-coverts dull brown with greyish margins; tail feathers blackish-brown, with a narrow margin of fulvous white; hue over the eye, chin and throat white; sides of the head dark grey, speckled with brown; the whole of the foreneck fulvous grey speckled with brown, and more distinctly on the outer sides; breast, abdomen, and under tail-coverts fulvous white, the latter with a streak of brown down the shafts; sides of the body, axillary plumes, and inner lining of wings pure white; towards the outer edges of the wing mottled with brown. The outermost upper tail-coverts also are white, with a lanceolate streak of brown down the centre. Bill brown; legs and feet yellowish-olive. Length, 7 inches; wing from flexure, 5.15; tail, 2.15; bill along the ridge, .95, along the edge of lower mandible, 1.05; bare tibia, .5; tarsus, 1.1; middle too and claw, 1.2; hallux and claw, .3.

Ardetta maculata, Buller.—Little Bittern.

All the hitherto recorded examples of the little bittern are from the South Island. But Mr. Colenso assures me that a live specimen was captured by the natives at Tauranga in the year 1836. It was in his possession alive for some time, and he afterwards sent the skin to the Linnean Society. The bird was quite new to the natives in that part of the country.

Nycticorax caledonicus, Steph.—Night Heron.

The same informant, in the published article already quoted, supplies evidence of the occurrence of another South Island visitant in this island also. The record (1845) is as follows:—"In crossing a very deep swamp, a beautiful bird, apparently of the crane kind, rose gracefully from the mud among the reeds and flew slowly past us; its under plumage was of a light yellow or ochre colour, with a dark brown upper plumage. None of my natives knew the bird, declaring they had never seen such an one before." It is evident that the bird here referred to is the Nankeen night-heron of Australia, already included among our occasional stragglers.

page 198

Anas superciliosa, Gmel.—Grey Duck.

In the Bay of Plenty district there are duck preserves which are a source of great profit to the natives and are jealously guarded by them. Rotomahana—a warm lake of little more than half a mile in length—is one of these. From October to February no canoes are permitted on this lake, and no fires are allowed to be lighted in the vicinity. Various kinds of duck breed here in great numbers. From feeding on the small green beetle and on the nahonaho, a stingless gnat which swarms in countless myriads over all the waters in the lake district, the birds become extremely fat; and during the moulting season, which extends over part of February and March, they are incapable of flight owing to the loss of their quills. The strict "tapu" which is enforced during the close season is now removed with great ceremony, and all the population, men, women, and children, start together on a duck-hunting expedition. The men with dogs in short leashes keep within the belt of manuka scrub along the margin of the lake; the women and children proceed [to the middle of the lake in canoes, then take to the water, and with great noise and splashing drive the frightened birds up into the bays or inlets, where they seek refuge in the scrub and sedges and are immediately pounced upon by the trained dogs which are still held in leash. The duck-hunter snatches the bird away from the dog, kills it noiselessly by biting it in the head, and then throws it behind him to be collected by a party of women who follow on foot for that purpose. In the season of 1867, seven thousand, it is said, were caught in this manner, in three days, on this lake alone. These were not all grey duck, but included also the black teal (or pochard), the shoveller, and the white-winged duck.

At the Bitter Lake (Rotokawa), in the Taupo district, they are caught in a similar manner. Those that escape the dogs are caught by snares set at night. The snares are placed along the margins of the lake and on the warm stones where the ducks are accustomed to congregate after dark.

At Rotoiti, Rotoehu, and Rotoma, as well as on other lakes in the Bay of Plenty district, Captain Mair has observed that the ducks at one season leave the waters and travel into the surrounding woods. This happens about March and therefore not during the breeding months. Probably they retire for more security during the seasonal moult; for although at other times these lakes fairly swarm with ducks, at this period they are quite deserted. In the woods, however, the dogs turn them up in all directions, He further says:—"It is interesting to watch the ducks feeding on the gnats and green beetles which float on the surface of the warm water, forming a thick scum. On this diet they are always in good condition. The beetles, I may mention, get shaken into the water from the overhanging scrub page 199 by the action of the winds, and the gnats appear to be killed by the sulphurous vapour that rises from the water, and are seen floating on the surface in countless millions."

As a rule the grey duck forms a nest of dry grass or flags, lined with feathers and down plucked from her own body, and selects a convenient situation on the ground—always well-concealed from view—sometimes at a considerable distance from the water. Occasionally, however, a more elevated site is fixed upon. On the famous Island of Motutaiko, in the Taupo Lake, there are some gigantic pohutukawa trees (Metrosideros tomentosa). In the forked branches of these trees, some twenty or thirty feet above the surface of the water, the grey duck often builds her nest and hatches her young. The natives state that when the ducklings are ready to take to the water the old birds bring them down to the lake on their backs.

Hymenolæmus malacorhynchus, Gray.—Blue Duck.

Captain Mair informs me that the wio is plentiful in all the mountain streams in the Urewera country. "When marching with the native contingent in pursuit of Te Kooti, as many as forty or fifty were sometimes caught in the course of a day, some being taken by hand, and others knocked over with sticks or stones, so very tame and stupid were they. A pair which he obtained as very young birds at Maunga-pohatu lived in the Kaiteriria camp for two years, associating freely with the domestic ducks, and fairly establishing themselves in the cooking-hut. They were particularly fond of potato and rice, and would readily take food from the hand. Ultimately they took to the lake and disappeared.

Larus scopulinus, Forst.—Mackerel-Gull.

The following communication from Captain Mair (under date May 13) presents this well-known species in the new character of a fruit-eating bird:—"I was greatly surprised on the 1st instant at seeing swarms of the small white gull—tarapunga or akiaki of the natives—crowding on the angiangi trees (Coprosma) at the mouth of the Maketu River, eating the berries. They were so tame that I could have knocked them down with my walking-stick. I also saw them in great numbers in the corn-fields at Maketu, and again near Tauranga yesterday. I saw a, man ploughing up a grass-field; a flock of three or four hundred of these beautiful little creatures followed his furrow, the horses almost treading on them. They followed in the steps of the ploughman so closely that they seemed almost to settle between his feet. It was a scramble to see who could be first in the furrow after the plough had passed on. A solitary stilt-plover or torea (Himantopus) stalked along among them, but at a more respectful distance from the ploughman."

page 200

The same correspondent, in connection with this species, has furnished me with another instance of the law of assimilative colouring in eggs for protective purposes. In December, 1875, he visited the Rurima Rocks, in the Bay of Plenty, and found large numbers of Larus scopulinus breeding there. In some localities the nests—roughly formed and lined with feathers—were placed in the thick masses of wild spinach or in the midst of "sand-fire." In all such cases he observed that the eggs which these nests contained were splashed over their entire surface with large green blotches, thus assimilating their colour to the surrounding vegetation; whilst other eggs (belonging to the same species), deposited on the white sand in the immediate vicinity, had a totally different appearance, being of a light stone-colour, and so marked as to harmonize exactly with the sandy surroundings.

Stercorarius parasiticus, Linn.—Buffon's Skua.

I have to exhibit to the Society another specimen of the skua, or plundering gull (in immature plumage), killed in Wellington harbour in the early part of the present year, and purchased by me from Mr. Liardet. This is the third recorded instance of the occurrence of this species in New Zealand.*

Podiceps cristatus, Lath.—Crested Grebe.

I have never met with this species in the North Island, but Captain Mair informs me that he has on two occasions seen it in Waikaremoana Lake in the Urewera country, and once on the Waikareiti, another lake in the same vicinity.

Podiceps rufipectus, Gray.—Dabchick.

The following is an interesting fact in connection with the local range of this little grebe which is almost incapable of flight:—

Mount Edgecumbe is a high volcatnic cone on the banks of the Rangitaiki River some fifteen miles from the sea. At the bottom of the now extinct crater there is a small pool of water about thirty yards across. In this pool Captain Mair, in 1868, observed three of these dabchicks disporting themselves in the water. Some months after the same number was seen again in the same place by Dr. Nesbitt and Dr. Manley, and again by another party of visitors a considerable time afterwards. There are lagoons at the foot of the mountain frequented by these birds; but the singular fact is that those inhabiting the basin must have climbed up the cone, which is thickly covered on the outside with dense scrubby vegetation, and then down the crater, which contains a heavy forest-growth right down to the edge of the pool.

Captain Mair states that the dabchick is very plentiful in the Hot

* See "Birds of N.Z.," p. 268; and "Trans. N.Z. Inst.," VII., p. 225,

page 201 Springs district, and that he has observed as many as a hundred together in Kaiteriria and Rotorua lakes. On their habits, he has furnished me with the following notes:—"In 1869 I was riding along the shores of Tikitapu Lake with H.R.H. the Duke of Edinburgh, when our attention was arrested by a pair of these birds with their young. We drew up and watched them for some time. Taking alarm at our approach, the female took her five young ones on her back and made several dives with them, coming up after each submersion at distances of ten yards or more. The young birds appeared to nestle under the feathers of the parent's back, and to hold on with their bills. In this manner they continued to dive till they were entirely out of sight, and H.R.H. appeared to be much interested in this singular performance."