Page:Bird-lore Vol 05.djvu/134

 In the Haunts of New Zealand Birds l2]

pitched upon the tiniest and most inoffensive of birds. the Gray Warbler. to rear their unwelcome broods.

It would be quite impossible, in the limits of the present paper. to de- scribe the great number of sea and shore birds which frequent New Zea- land. There are three or four of such peculiar interest. however. that I cannot refrain from alluding to them in passing. Of these. none is more singular than the Wry-billed Plover. with its bill turned sharply to the right, as if deformed. This peculiar structure is said to be of use in getting food out from around the corners of stones on the seashore. The Notornis. a ﬂightless Gallinule of giant size, is interesting on account of its great rarity, only two or three specimens having been secured. In contrast to this showy purple monster. which has become extinct through its loss of the power of ﬂight, may be mentioned two of the tnost extraordinary bird travelers in the world. The Eastern Golden Plover, which occasionally visits New Zealand, nests in Siberia and Kamtchatka, while the Bar-tailed Godwit journeys northward every autumn to its summer borne in the same region. New Zealand is the very center of distribution for birds of the Albatross and Petrel family. which nest upon its southern rockrbound islets and wander hence over the cold and stormy seas of those high latitudes. The group includes birds which range in size from the largest and most daring creature of ﬂight to frail windewanderers scarcely larger than the swallow.

In this brief resume of New Zealand birds. I have merely undertaken to give a few glimpses into the life of that strange and beautiful wonder~ land. to peer amid the treeefems and the beech boughs for gentle songsters, to wander in the primeval bush for an introduction to the shy creatures which haunt its shadows. If these birds are to be known. it must he done at once, for a host of relentless enemies are sweeping them from the face of the earth.