FINE NEW ZEALAND BOOKS.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 21148, 4 October 1930, Page 4

FINE NEW ZEALAND BOOKS.

NATIVE BIRDS AND OLD-TIME MAORIS. "New Zealand Birds." By W. B. B. Oliver. M.Sc, F.N.Z. Inst., C.F.A.0.U., 8.A.0.U' director Dominion Museum, Wellington. With sii colour plates and 200 other Illustrations. Wellington: Fine Arts (N.Z.), Ltd. (30s net.) Pictures of Old New Zealand." The Partridge Collection of Maori Paintings, by Gottfried n£s? u ™s:.i Des £ rlbed by James Cowan. Auckland: Whltcombe and Tombs, Ltd. (35s net.) Mr W. R B. Oliver, as director of the Dominion Museum at Wellington, has had almost unique opportunities of coming in touch with ornithologists and of examining rare specimens of New Zealand avifauna. These what one might term natural advantages would have been quite insufficient in themselves, however, to have enabled him to produce the book under, review. The author has studied-his subject exhaustively in all books and papers relating to our native birds, he has made personal observations regarding their habits, and, where he considered it necessary in the interests of accuracy or recent knowledge, he has revised existing classifications and made a rearrangement of groups. In the section of the book dealing with the moas this is particularly evident. What is virtually a new arrangement has-been made, involving a reduction of species admitted from thirty-eieht to twenty-two. In the case of petrels, a new sub-family is proposed. The number of species described is 300, ot which 230 are known from recent specimens, 39 from bones only, and 31 are introductions now well established in this country. It is difficult, in a short review of such a complete work, to particularise, but it may be mentioned that Mr Oliver has overlooked no bird' which has been recorded in. New Zealand. Take, for instance, the wandering tattler, which was discovered during Cook's second voyage'at islands in the South Pacific. This bird has occurred in the Dominion in only two instances, at Hawke's Bay in 1883. and a* Sunday Island in 1913, but is thus entitled, by the author's system, to a Place in any volume claiming to survey the whole range of New Zealand bird life. One always has a particular admiration u- t7 e ■K?dwifc-or',kuaka, miscalled snipe, which makes an annual buminer pilgrimage to New-Zealand from ci eeding grounds inSiberia--' and Alaska, following a route through Japan. •Chind, and the Philippines. .The 1 author remarks that the flight from New Guinea'or Northern Australia to. New Zealand is probably non-stop as • ? ery , f eW birds ■ have been observed on ', Lord Howe, Norfolk, or the Kermadec Islands. The takahe (Notornis hochstetteri) is of especial interest to Dunedin. yet it would be interesting to know what percentage of residents in this city is aware that the Dunedin Museum contains the only specimen now known to be in New Zealand, the other three having gone to the British Museum and the Dresden Museum. The Dresden Museum paid £lO5 for its bird, and the New Zealand Government £250 for that now housed here. The extinct takahe (Nortornis mantelh) is even more obscure, the species, and with it the genus Notornis, having been founded on a skull collected by W. B. D; Mantell in 1547. To the general reader the question that will straightway occur is-how this new book compares with Hutton and Drummond[s " Animals of New Zealand," which, now in its fourth edition, has long been' recognised aa the authority on New Zealand avifauna. The question'is not easy to-j answer. Hutton and Drummond deals .with New, Zealand mammals and reptiles as Well .as with birds, and in this respect the book .remains unchallenged by this later work. On a rough comparison, however, it< is possible to pick instances wherein either hook possesses some slight advantages. Hutton and Drummond, for instance, devotes more space to, the stories relating to the finding of Notornis hochstetteri, and there is an element of romance in these that justifies their fall recapitulation.- Mr Oliver,-on the other hand, classifies knowledge concerning the appearance and habite of this bird more distinctly And makes clear the differene6 in "species which Hutton and Drummond merely mentions in the body of the note. [ In-regard to the march rail, again, Mr Oliver is much more definite than Hutton and .Drummond, and defines it as a crake. The scientific names. of the -bird here, as in a 1 great many other places in these two books, "disagree, a fact that is likely to be confusing to' the' layman in such matters; but it cannot be suggested that Mr Oliver has erred in reclassifying the genus where he thinks fit. Minor disagreement is found in such details aa the price paid by Dresden for the Notornis. Generally speaking, it would not be unfair to state that Hutton and Drummond is to some \ extent superseded by Mr Oliver's book. This does not detract in great measure from the. value of the older publication ae a guide to the birdlover. Indeed, Hutton and Drummond is probably the better reference book for the mere dabbler in ornithology, in that, it is less scientific in its phraseology. This problem ip, however, one for the wellinformed and enthusiastic to discuss, and it may be assumed that they will find plenty of room "for disagreement and debate and will reach the eventual conclusion that both books are invaluable. ' The scientific material in Mr Oliver's book is unquestionably better collated, his classification being more definite. The method followed has been to give every bird its popular and scientific names and one Maori name, if it possesses any, then a few sentences concerning the discovery of the species, a detailed description of characteristics, then references to the young, to', distribution, food and habits, and—an interesting feature this—in many instances a few words on the lation of the bird to man—i.e., its usefulness as food, its place in Maori legend, etc.

i Pantographs in this book are excellent, and have been procured from many sources. They number some hundreds, and are supplemented by detail sketches in many cases. The colour plates, which are the work of Miss L. A. Daff, deserve special mention. Not as ambitious as the Buffer plates, in the manner of their reproduction (in most cases several birds are included in.each plate), they are excellently done, and reflect credit upon the artist and the compiler of the volume. New Zealand Birds” is an important addition to the literature relating to our avifauna, and may be expected to remain a permanent addition to the too-fewly-yaluable volumes dealing with the subject. It has been beautifully produced by Fine Arts, Wellington, and the price is not excessive when the labour and monetary risk attached to its publication are considered. . '

“Pictures of Old New Zealand” is a book that should fill a need in this community for authentic portraits of the old* time Maori, complete with ceremonial garb and tattooing. In this book are collected 71 portraits and other pictures of Natives and Native customs, comprising the Partridge Collection now in the Auckland Art Gallery. The pictures are all reproductions from originals by the late Gottfried Lindauer, and their history is. almost as romantic as their subjects will be in the retrospect of another 50 years.

Lindauer was already a well-known artist in Austria, Moravia, and Russia, and had painted Biblical subjects for a number of Catholic cathedrals and churchmen, when, returning to his native Bohemia, he read a glowing account of the beauties of New Zealand and its Native people. He decided, in face of the opposition of his family, to visit our country to study Maori life, or, as he then believed, primitive life and scenes in the far South Seas. Arriving in 1873 he immediately commenced to travel ..throughout both islands and secured sittings from numbers of influential Maori chiefs and their families. In 1874 he visited Auckland, and Mr H. E. Partridge conceived the idea of making a collection of these notable paintings. The result of that compact is shown in this book. It is worthy of note that the late King Edward greatly admired, and eventually, through the generosity .of Sir Walter Buller, came into possession of one of Lindauer’s Maori paintings. Of Lindauer’s ability Mr James Cowan states: No living artist had such splendid opportunities of painting the old-time Maori as Lindauer enjoyed, and the gallery which has been made of his pictures is a monument of artistic skill, industry and patience. No artist has equalled him in the truthful painting of the Maori flesh , tints. . . . The best testimony of the fidelity of his work is that from the lips of the Maori people themselves. The Natives who visit the gallery are the keenest and closest critics, and will sometimes remain for hours sitting before the pictures. . . . And in no instance has

a Maori ever pointed out a mistake in the technical make-up of the pictures.

There is a nobility and dignity of expression in the portraits of many of the old. chiefs, now long passed to their rest, which makes the illustrations in this book a permanent record of the high characteristics of our forerunners in New Zealand. Passing' from the benevolence of Tokena te Kerehi, as the artist saw him, to the fierceness of mien of Haora Tipa Koinaki, and thence to the arrogance of King Tawhiao, the mysticism of whitebearded Henare. Potae, one'is impelled to study the biographical, notes which Mr Cowan provides; and one becomes deeply interested in the good battle Tawhiao put up at Rangiriri, when, he related, “ten guns were levelled at me and a big gun also, and in Julia Martin, the heroine of an exceedingly courageous deed when she accompanied her husband and another to a brigantine in distress “Pictures of Old New Zealand" is very well produced, the publishers evidently having spared no pains in making it representative of the best work that can be done in this country. The cover design is in colour, and the other illustrations are in sepia. The volume is attractively boxed. The size of the pages is approximately 11 inches by 9. J. M.