eight might be found huddled together, as the Morioris declare, like pigs in a bed. Having by observation found its sleeping-place on the ‘clears,’ the Morioris made long tracks leading up to it, carefully removing any sticks or obstructions which might alarm the bird by cracking; and then, by making a stealthy rush, they pounced on them, and secured all in the nest or sleeping-place. This bird had a powerful strident call, which could be heard at a great distance. Its neck was said to have been about as long as a mam's arm. “The mehonui was peculiar in this: that if any one approached it in front it did not see him, and, approached thus quietly, was caught by the neck and strangled. It kept its head continually on the ground, looking for food, chiefly fern-root, which it burrowed for and dug out with its powerful bill, making, it is said, a rooting like a pig. Any one, however, coming from the side or behind was quickly detected, and the birds made off. Its colour was reddish-brown, something like the New Zealand kaka. The mehoriki” (small meho) “was a very tame bird, but was only caught at certain seasons, being strictly preserved at others. The eggs were never eaten if in the least turned” (i.e., sat upon); “children were always reproved for so doing. The birds were caught by preparing large traps with wide wings to them, between which they were quickly driven. These birds lived in and preferred the undergrowth of the bush, which afforded them concealment.” (Rather difficult to round them up in such a place.) “The flesh was said to be very delicate, and much relished by sick persons. The mehoriki was a very watchful bird. No stranger could approach without it uttering its warning cry.” (This is a singular habit for a very tame bird.) “In colour it was light-straw-coloured, and spotted like the New Zealand bittern, but not so dull a grey as the latter. The eggs were spotted, and about the size of a medium or small hen's egg. “They also had the pakura (Porphyrio melanotus). There were also several varieties of ducks—perer', which were snared in pools or ponds, or driven ashore in the moulting season (perer' mounu). They were driven from the lagoons into the rushes and coarse growth of the ‘clears’ or open land, where large members were caught.” It seems to me that the habits and descriptions of these birds have got mixed up. The parts I have written in italics would seem applicable to the extinct swan and the method of catching it. The mehonui could not well be the name of a species of kaka-po (i.e., night-parrot), nor would a parrot have a neck as long as a man's arm; for the Polynesians signify a parrot by the word “kaka”; like the Maori kaka (Nestor meridionalis), kaka-riki, “small parrot” (the varieties of the