15

H.—2

Hauturu was formerly owned by the Ngatiwai Tribe, whose title was extinguished about ten years ago. A small hapu lived on the flat near the landing-place, and cultivated rich crops of kumera, he. The remains of several ancient Maori pas are to be seen near the south-western part of the island, including the ruins of a remarkable walled pa, built with boulders from the flat, The Little Barrier is an ideal sanctuary for Native birds, being difficult of access, and situated at a considerable distance from the mainland. Since it became a State reserve the birds have been unmolested, and many varieties are now numerous. Some rare species, it is satisfactory to note, are increasing in numbers. The bell-bird is very plentiful all over the island; last season there were several nests in close proximity to the caretaker's house. Four kakapo (Stringops habroptilus), from the west coast of the South Island—long extinct in the North—have been liberated on the island, and should do well. The rare stitch-bird (hihi) is not common, but is increasing in numbers; it is found generally in the more inaccessible places, but occasionally comes down on the flat in the spring. The long-tailed cuckoo (koekoea) are shining cuckoo (pipiwharauroa), two of our summer migrants, are plentiful; they arrive from the tropics about October and leave again in March. The wood-pigeon (kuku) is very plentiful at certain times. In addition to the birds mentioned, the following are numerous: Ruru or harrier (Circus gouldi), morepork, white-eye (tauhou), white-headed canary- (popokatea), grey warbler (riroriro), pied tit (miromiro), pied fantail (piwakawaka), red-fronted parrakeet (kakariki), brown parrot (kaka), tui, and many kinds of sea-birds. Other birds noted on the island, but not numerous, are —Quail-hawk (kaeaea), bush-hawk (karewarewa), rifleman (tipipounamu), ground-lark (pihoihoi), Little Barrier snipe, water-crake (koitareke), kingfisher (kotare), wood-robin (toutouwai). Some of these, however, are increasing. The small native rat, which has almost completely disappeared on the mainland, abounds, and has probably increased since the cats have been cleared off. Tuatara lizards are not numerous. Insect-life is very abundant, and with the flowering-shrubs provides ample food for the birds. The flora of the island includes all the timbers found on the mainland. Kauri is plentiful: when the island became Government property it was estimated that there were some nine million feet of this timber standing. The pohutukawa (Metrosideros tomentosa) is very abundant, grows to a great size, and is a very beautiful object in the flowering season. A remarkable shrub growing on the island is the parapara (pisonia brunoniana), sometimes called the " bird-catching plant." It has a very viscid fruit, on which numbers of insects and sometimes small birds are seen securely glued by the sticky exudation from the seed-vessels. Resolution Island. The administration of Resolution Island (in Dusky Sound, west coast of the South Island), a reserve for the preservation of native birds and flora, has now been intrusted to this Department, it having been taken over as from the Ist October, 1904. The island was set apart for this purpose in 1891, and Mr. Richard Henry has acted as custodian since July, 1894. His valuable services are retained by the Tourist Department. It is rather curious to find that Resolution Island was originally gazetted in 1875 as " a station to be used for the restraint and safe keeping of male offenders under sentence of penal servitude " ; it has been legally under the Justice Department since that time, although the administration of the place as an avifauna reserve has been carried out by the Lands and Survey Department. Mr. Henry resides on Pigeon Island, a small island close to Resolution. The caretaker's cottage and other buildings on the island are now taken over by this Department. Mr. Henry has a small cutter, in which he visits the mainland and various parts of Resolution Island in connection with his work. He has recently fitted the boat with an oil-engine and screw, so as to make his cruises with greater expedition and independently of the weather. Resolution Island is about fifty square miles in extent, and is some eight miles in length from north to south, with a width of about six miles and a half. On the eastern side it is separated from the mainland by a narrow sound —Acheron Passage; on the west a long narrow peninsula, almost a separate islet, projects out into the ocean and shelters a deep bay, in which is Pigeon Island, besides many other small islands. In the vicinity of Mr. Henry's residence is Facile Harbour, where the remains of the ancient wreck of the ship " Endeavour " are to be seen at low water. Dusky Sound abounds in historic spots, as well as objects of interest for the botanist and naturalist; the sites of Captain Cook's sojourn here in 1773 are still readily identified. Resolution Island is a very rugged, broken mass of mountains; its highest point is at an altitude of about 3,000 ft. The island is everywhere densely covered with forest, affording perfect shelter for the birds with which it abounds. Mr. Henry, in his description of the island, says that there are several fair-sized streams of water —at Duck and Cormorant Coves and Shag River —but they drain such steep country that they almost run dry after a few fine days. He has discovered four little lakes; their water resembles that draining from a peat " moss." During the custodian's residence in Dusky Sound he has cut a number of tracks on Resolution, and has transferred a large number of flightless birds to the island from the mainland. He found that the roa (or tokoweka, a large brown kiwi) and the weka (or woodhen) were plentiful on the island, but there were no kiwi or kakapo. He hunted for birds on the mainland with a muzzled dog, and in a few years succeeded in transferring considerably over seven hundred groundbirds alive to the island—chiefly kiwi and kakapo—which were liberated in various suitable localities. Wekas are now more numerous on Resolution than they were five years ago : this Mr. Henry attributes to the absence of rats. Referring to other birds, he writes,-- -" Saddlebacks were always very scarce, but I have not seen one now for some years. There are few places on Resolution Island suitable for native thrushes. They are the most fastidious of all bush-birds as to their place of residence, and I think they are rapidly disappearing. The principal reason for this is probably the abundance of imported thrushes and blackbirds which are everywhere now, even on Pigeon Island. All the other bush-birds appear to be as plentiful as ever.