DOMINION'S BIRD LIFE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXV, Issue 20011, 30 July 1928, Page 7

DOMINION'S BIRD LIFE.

KIWIS IN THE NORTH. NOT AS RARE AS STATED. The history and life of many of New Zealand'., native birds formed the subject of a lecture by Mr. R. Falls, in the hall of the Methodist College on Saturday evening. The speaker said the birds most common in New Zealand now had been introduced. On account qf the destruction of the bnsh many species of native birds had been reduced almost to the point of extinction. Ho said the general opinion was that the kiwi was almost extinct, but this was uot a fact. Kiwis were never seen by day, 1 but came out at night. In places in tho ' north of Auckland it was not an uncommon thing for dogs to bring one or two ' in a week. "Tho kiwi is by no means as . rare as is often stated and with reasonable ■ protection should be with us for many , years," said Mi'. Falla. Mr. Falla said the haia commenced! to [ decrease in numbers about 1907. The last • lniia seen was at the head of the Wanga- | nui River in 1914, and since'that time there had been no reliable report of one , having been noticed. "The blame for this must be laid at the door of the collectors, who, when it was known the bird was becoming rare, combed the Dominion from one end to the other for the birds," said Mr. Falla. "They took them away in pairs, and as the lniia always hunted in pairs, it was a fairly easy matter to catch them."