OUSTING THE RIRO RIRO.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1116, 2 May 1911, Page 5

OUSTING THE RIRO RIRO.

THE WARFARE OF THE BUSH.; The almost complete absence of native bird life in many of the largo bushes passed by the Railway Route Commissioners whe:} travelling in the north was very noticeable, and' an inquiry as to the reason showed that the riro riro, whose beautifully sweet notes used to predominate, had been badly treated by other .birds, so much so that its numbers were very seriously reduced. It' appears that the riro riro built for itself a very pretty hanging nest with 'a door entrance, and this usually attracted the attention of the pipiwharauroa—the smallest of two varieties of New Zealand cuckoo—with the result that' the latter deposited its egg in the riro riro's nest. The young cuckoo was naturally hatched, and it took tha riro riro patent birds all their time to feed the hungry cuckoo. As the latter developed the tax on the little riro riro to find sufficient food, was very severe, and eventually it was forced out of the nest altogether. This bad treatment naturally had a marked effect .in reducing the riro riro population, and accounts to a large extent for the absence of the sweot little songsters in the bushes of tho far north. Another reason given was that the sparrows tore up the nests of other native birds and used the material fot building their own nests. While on the tour from Kawakawa to Ohaeawai, the commissioners were shown a koheperoa, or;long-tailed cuckoo, which had been shot in mistake for a sparrow fcawk.