NATIVE BIRDS.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume LX, Issue 9345, 16 April 1909, Page 6

NATIVE BIRDS.

It is probable (says tfie Hon. T. Mackenzie i that more specimens of the famous Notornis, the rare aud solitary bird of the Southern Sounds, will be found. During the past twenty-eight years Mr Mackenzie has done a great deal of exploring in the Sounds district. He has pushed his way into places that men had not been to before, aud lw- is well acquainted with both the forests and the birdlife in those parts of the Dominion. He told a reporter that if another Notoruis was found it would probably be in some of tho immense gullies, near lagoons and marshy swamps. Although he believes that the Notornis may still Mud a place ou the list of New Zealand's living birds, lie thinks that the bird is very ram. He speaks very hopefully of the prospects of the weka. When he went over the Milford track recently, he was told of an incident which siiows that the weka is able to deal with at least one of tho natural enemies civilisation has let loose upon it. Tim movements of a weka and a weasel were observed, aud it was seen that the bird was more than equal in combat with the rodent, which it picked to death. Mr Mackenzie points out that if wekas generally turn tho tables ou stoats, weasels and similar vermin, they will do a great service to die Dominion's interesting' native avifauna, besides adding largely to their own chances of survival. Other South Island birds, notably the robiu, are becoming very rare. Mr Mackenzie is a very ardent lover of tho native birds, and he was one of the first to take steps to have them protected.