The Huia Hunt

Wanganui Herald, Volume XXXXIII, Issue 12582, 1 October 1908, Page 7

The Huia Hunt

TO TITE EDITOR.

Sir, — If the paragraph re the above appearing in your issue of last evening be correct, j. make bold to say that a great blunder will be made to start a 'hunt," — for a bird unfortunately so easily trapped — at the present time. It is an attempt to do the right thing the wrong way. or the wrong time. Just now is breeding season for most birds— the ht.a, I take it, is no exception. The birds are already mated, and nesting has beran. The huia belongs to that class of irds that becomes more readily reconciled to captivity than to the loss of hia mate. To capture and to distribute them now in fields afresh, means a re-opening of the amatorial campaign. Would it not be wiser to let them breed this season where they are and pay someone living in the district to keep a watchful eye on their breeding places, and at the end of the breeding season re-distribute them? — Yours, etc.,

J. BRINE.