THE NEW ZEALAND WOOD-HEN

Dominion, Volume 15, Issue 54, 26 November 1921, Page 12

THE NEW ZEALAND WOOD-HEN

A BIRD THAT IS BECOMING RARE. Among the growing list of native birds that are gradually becoming scarcer, or which are being driven back to remote localities by tho advance of civilisation, writes a correspondent, is tho weka or wood-hen. This lively bird not so very many years ago could be found in the bush gullies in tho vicinity of Wellington, but now its long, mournful cry of “More wet!” is never heard. The full-grown bird is such a pugnacious chap that the weasel or ferret theory may be discounted, right off, though doubtless these bloodthirsty little animals have taken heavy toll of the young chicks and of eggs as well. In the old days the weka was quite a feature of every bush camp, and the presence of these birds added a great deal of charm and interest to life in >he forest. Curiosity, which, as the old saying has it, “killed the cat, may have had something to do, also, with the disappearance of tho weka, for this characteristic is a very strong feature of the bird. Anything bright or shining left about a bush camp in the old davs was pretty sure to disappear, articles' of this description proving absolutely irresistible to a wood-hen. On one occasion a small piece of lookingglass was carried off from the front of the lent, white empty tins were picked up and subjected to a close examination. The birds prowled about a bush camp just as the ordinary domestic fowl does about a backyard, and would not hesitate to enter the lents and burgle one’s belongings. The long, mournful cry of the weka was generally supposed to indicate tho near approach of rain; and certainly the birds appeared to be much more noisy when a change of weather happened to .be inijiending. Ihe cry of the wood-hen ni a little distance sounds long-drawn and shrill, but when close at hand it commences with a dull, booming note, like the beating of a muffled drum, ending with tho familiar “More wet.” A hollow log is chosen as a rule for a nesting-place, and the bird will always show fight if disturbed when silting on its eggs. Tn the scrub country north of Auckland the wood-hen is still fairly plentiful, but in most localities it seems to have almost disappeared.