THE CHICKENS.

Auckland Star, Volume LVII, Issue 12, 15 January 1926, Page 8

THE CHICKENS.

LONELY ISLAND OUTPOSTS.

INTERESTING BIRD LIFE.

Off the northern coast, at the mouth c of the Hauraki Gulf, lie the Chicken Islands, a precipitous group, fringed by. pebbly beaches in places, but in the f main sheer cliff rising from fathoms ' deep. To the passing Auckland yachts- j ° man it is not an inviting locality, save for the good fishing in the vicinity, with s the result that the islands are not inti- « mately known. The Chickens comprise 1 1 three "main islands like sentinels in aj c row, each of considerable extent, and i F a fewtoutlying islets, small in size and! practically inaccessible. Morotiri, a which is the native name of the group, jo is a sanctuary for avifauna, and in the 1 1 stunted bush on the steep hillsides Jg many of the now rare New Zealand 1 1 birds still hold their own. 1 1 The outer island of the group has an, a interesting history, and many years c ago was pegged out as a mining claim, c It chanced that a settler from the main- a land was one day fishing in the locality, a and brought back with him a piece of t stone from a beach which proved to be c auriferous quartz. This led to steps C being taken quietly and unostentati- r ously to register the island as a mining s claim, with the result that for about, t a year active prospecting was carried |' out. A copper lode was located on a\\ cliff near the foreshore, but the main jj search was on the higher levels of -the ■ c island, where in sandstone formation at j \ least one good gold prospect was located, a Unfortunately this proved the peak . a point of the mining enterprise, for care-, f ful exploration and much drilling and> a driving failed to reveal the hidden reef, j c and like many other mining ventures of \ the period the claim was eventually abandoned. ' . ■ One of the" difficulties that the prospectors were faced with' was the absence of an adequate water supply on the outer island, and the total absence—as was then believed—of any water on the adjoining island, although in later years a curious discovery was made by the members of a launch party from Whangarei. They saw pigeons volplane from a cliff to momentarily disappear r in a cave near the water's edge. Search fc was made to ascertain the reason, and i it was then discovered that the ■ cave <] contained a subterranean lake of pure s water. The islands make an ideal sanctuary j for the naiive birds, as the dense undergrowth on the steep slopes is difficult <; to penetrate. Occasionally the some- t what rare saddleback has been seen, a the small parakeet—now practically t extinct on the mainland—the native a pigeon, tui and bellbird are fairly com- c nion, while the pipiwharauroa and kohe- C peroa are occasional visitors in r the ( early spring months. c The islands are likewise a habitat of c the tuatara lizard, which shares a bur- c row with the mutton bird on appar- C eiitly the friendliest terms. ( . T