Page:Transactions and proceedings of the New Zealand Institute (IA transactionsproc41newz).pdf/48

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EARLY this year, when my annual holiday arrived, I gladly took ad- vantage of an opportunity to visit Kapiti Island, which was declared a native bird and plant sanctuary a few years ago.

It is one of three sanctuaries in New Zealand. There is the Little Barrier Island in the north, Resolution Island in the south, and Kapiti Island halfway be- tween. It lies about three miles off the western coast of Wellington Province, and at the western mouth of Cook Strait. It is about 5,000 acres in area, six miles long, and a mile and a quarter broad along its whole leogth. It is a rugged, precipitous island, and is much cut 1 into gorges, gullies, and creeks. Unlike the Little Barrier, however, it lias a good deal of flat land. All along the western side of the isiand there are high cliffs, some of which rise to a height of 1,700 ft., near Mount Titeremoana, the highest peak.

I spent a week on the island, from the 21st February to the 27th February, making my headquarters at the Governınent cottage, on the terrace above the Rangatira Flat, balfway down the eastern coast. This site is very suitable for the purpose, as forest-clac hills rise up inime- diately behind the terrace, and I had to go only a few paces to be ainonget the birds. I noted twenty-three species, and I have included in the list seven others which were seen by previous observers. The whitehead (Certhiparus albicapillais) is very plentiful. It was the first native birů I saw on the sanctuary. I had bardly entered the bush on the slopes of the bills behind Rangatira when I heard the while head's noisy twittering. I beard it every day that I spent on the island. The silence of the forests was broken more frequently by whitehcadis than by any other birds. It is satisfactory to know that this bird is represented on Kapiti as well as on the Little Barrier, as it had been reported to be on the verge of extinction. When I returned to Welling ton after my visit to Kapii , Mr. 1. Hamilton toll me that he had seen it in large numbers at Silverstream, near Wellington City, and in Christ- church. Mr. Edgar Stead reported its presence in Tawke's Bay, while Dr. L. Cockayne states that he saw large numbers in the central part of the Tougariro National Park, when he made a botanical survey there Bell-birds (outhornis metannra) are also plentiful. I do 110t think that there is any place in the Dominion where they are more plentiful. The graceful flight of the tui (Prosthemadera nova-zealandia) is a common sight on the sanctuary. These handsome birds are seen in large numbers ou the karaka-trees. The berries were ripe at the time of my visit, and they seemed to afford the "parson-bird" ample supplies of food. I saw only a few ſantails, but I noted that both the pied (Rhipidura flabellifera) and the black species (R. fuliginosa) are present. I was rather surprised to find the black one as plentiful as the pied. The pied fantail is found all over New Zealand, but the black one is common only in the south, tlais year,