SOME NOTES ON NOTORNIS MANTELLI.

Otago Witness, Issue 2363, 8 June 1899, Page 44

SOME NOTES ON NOTORNIS MANTELLI.

ITS PROBABLE ORIGIN AND EXTINCTION IN NEW ZEALAND.

By Rich,a.kd Henky, Resolution Island,

Many readers will remember that the " swamp-hen " was mentioned in Cook's voyages at various places in the Pacific, and everyone knows that our bird is common in Australia under a variety of names, of which .swamp-hen is about the best, because it is simple and accurately descriptive. Thus we may assume that it is migratory, and in the case of the Notornis (which is also a rail) may have a hi&tory parallel to that of the wood-hen. Coming here long ago in seaich of the New Zealand swamps, — of which it may have had a hereditary geographical knowledge — and, becoming tired or storm-bound, dropped down in the -ne^t coast bush, where seeds were abundant before the advent of rats, and where there were no enemies en the ground. The sparrow-hawk was probably their worst enemy in New Zealand, because the swamp-hen cannot turn and twist on the wing, but flies straight, and offers a splendid mark for the swooping hawk. I have seen them knock down several swamp-hens, ' and, ferret-like, sometimes only drink their blood. If those hawks were plentiful it must have been a great inducement for the old swamp-hens to stay in the scrub, until at last they were too' lazy to fly, especially those that had escaped a knock or two from the hawks. Then, with mates of like experience, there is no mystery about the founding of this notable family — a branch of which exists in the white swamp-hen of Norfolk Island. !

A curious item was told me tins morning by Mr Nixon, of H.M. customs: — About' 20 years ago The Gleaner (Captain Agnew) came into Greymouth with a strange bird aboard, which turned out to be a New Zealand or Australian swamphen, that came to the vessel for a rest 400 miles from the New Zealand coast, and was captured by the crew. There is no doubt about this fact, notwithstanding our habit of thinking that swamp-hens are poor fliers ; and there need be as little mystery about the disappearance of. the Notomis

when we come to know the facts. The rats at my homestead will never allow a single grain of oats to ripen, but eat it all in the soft stage, and they take about 70 per cent, of the grass seed. The native thrush and the kakapo can shell oats nearly as well as a sparrow, though I know of no such grain in the bush. This gives us a hint of what kind of birds would naturally be exterminated. The rats will also eat turnips, cabbages, gooseberries, and peas. It is said that Captain Cook got the spinach in Dusky Sound, but I have seen nothing of it in my four years' perambulations, though I know the plant well. Perhaps the rats ate it. They go down on to the mud flats and carry up cockles, some of which they bite and eat fresh, but most they leave to die and open of their own accord. This "side dish/ allows them to hunt up the last seed in the bush, and in this their scent gives them a great advantage over the Birds. This alone would account for the abundance of rats and scarcity of the Notornis.

But nearly all grass and vegetable eaters depend on the seeds for rearing their young, and it must be a long time since the Notornis had a fair opportunity of rearing her clutch of chickens ; especially when the strength of beak says that she was essentially a seed-eater. Thus we may infer that they would breed like rabbits on the seeds that we could give them, if only we could catch a live pair. It is, alas ! a forlorn hope on the coast, but might be possible yet at Te Anau. — New Zealand Journal of Education.

[In Sir Joseph Bank's journal, page 270, spinach is mentioned, though at that time no European had ever been in Du?ky Bay.— Ed. O.D.T.J , J