Oban township, Halfmoon Bay, Stewart Island. - Otago
Witness, 6.4.1910.
Mr Gregor McGregor, of Wanganui, knew the huia in the
early days of settlement, when this bird was fairly plentiful
in parts of the Rimutaka, Tararua, and Ruahine Ranges, and was
found, in fact, over the whole of the country drained by the
Manawatu, Rangitikei, and Hautapu Rivers.
He has seen dozens of huias on occasions when he made his way
through the forests. He states that they come readily when
their whistle is imitated by a human being.
They have a very acute sense of hearing, and will come from a
distance of over 100 yards. They do not usually fly down, but
run or hop along the ground, usually coming down the open
slope of a hill.
He has never seen huias singly. They have always been in
pairs. They are snared, but always on the ground, and never
on a tree.
In the summer time they go high up the ranges; in the winter
the snow on the mountain-tops drives them down to lower
altitudes.
There is usually a great deal of rimu, matai, and birch
timber in their forest haunts. Many large rimu trees fall to
the ground and decay, and offer homes to huhu grubs, for
which the huias have a marked weakness.
He feels strongly that determined efforts should be made to
catch some for liberation on the bird sanctuaries, where they
would be protected from all natural enemies, including man,
the most relentless of all.
• Describing the number of kakas which formerly frequented
the forests in the Grey district, on the West Coast, Mr A. H.
Clark, of Waihi, states that 45 or 50 years ago, when he
reached the summit of a ridge of a clear place, he had only
to start calling to attract some of the birds, and after he
had shot one they would flock round him in surprising
numbers. After perhaps half an hour's slaughter they would
all suddenly fly away and disappear.
There was a large miro tree which stood out by itself in a
clearing close to his mining camp. On several occasions when
his supply of ammunition was exhausted, he climbed to the
topmost branches, and, by means of a slender pole with a
running noose at the end was able to snare many birds after
the method in use by the Maoris.
At the Buller River at Christmas time, when the kakas were
very fat and tender, he roasted them on a spit in front of a
bush fire. - ODT, 9.4.1910.
- By James Drummond, F. L. S., F. Z. S.
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