A RARA AVIS.

Auckland Star, Volume LVII, Issue 81, 7 April 1926, Page 9

A RARA AVIS.

THE FAR-FAMED HUIA.

BELIEVED TO BE EXTINCT.

One treasured exhibit in the Auckland Museum is two pairs of huia, one of the most famed birds in a somewhat long list of New Zealand avifauna, and now believed to be extinct, as for many years no trace of a live huia has been found. The huia is a handsome bird with dark, glossy plumage, a characteristic being a broad, white-harred tail, an unfortunate distinction, as the tail feathers were so highly regarded by the old-time rangitiras, that the hunt for the huia mercilously went on to keep up the supply of headgear adornment. Another feature of the huia was its long beak, in the case of the female bird curiously curved. ' When the huia flourished in the land its chief haunt was the Ruahine Ranges, the adjacent Kaimanawas, and tho jumble of lesser ranges in that moun-„ tainous region, an area.that has been fairly well combed in recent years for traces of the bird, but without success. It is generally believed that the huia is now extinct, although lingering hopes have from time to time been held that in

■ some of the deep beech-clad valleys of the Ruahines, or in some of the remote fastnesses around the headwaters of the ! Wanganui River a huia will yet mate- ! rialise. I Huia feathers were in keen demand amongst the Maoris when the present King visited New Zealand in 1901, and it is commonly believed that about that | time there was a general clean-up as far as the bird was concerned. From thence on the existence of the huia was reported at long intervals, one of the last authentic reports being in 1907, when a pair of huia were seen in the upper Rangitikei district. Yet from time to time the possible existence of the huia has been mooted, although in all probability the rare but

by no means extinct kokako, or North Island crow, was mistaken for one, this bird being similar in size, but with dull bluish plumage and without the white-tipped tail that characterised the huia.

Like the beautiful native pigeon the huia was a trusting bird with the inquisitiveness of a weka, and bushmeii and surveyors who knew the Upper Rangitikei district many years ago, tell how the huia—generally in pairs—visited their camps with every trace of friendliness. Perhaps one of these days from some remote spot in the virgin country of the mid-North Island will come an

I authentic report that a specimen of Hetralocha Acutirostris has been located. That indeed would be satisfactory news ■ for by that somewhat comprehensive | name the huia is officially known.