Destruction of Native Birds.

Manawatu Herald, 16 July 1892, Page 3

Destruction of Native Birds.

In a newspaper laid before Parliament in which Lord Onslow urges the purchase of the Little Barrier Island and Resolution Island as reserves for native fauna and flora, it is pointed out how many of the Native birds in existence in great numbers thirty or forty years ago have now almost disappeared.

The Kiwis (the north island species) are now only to be found in the wooded heights of Pirongia and in th,e bush of the Upper Wanganui. The south island Kiwi is now met with only in widely scattered localities on the West Coast. The small spotted or. grey Kiwi is now only to be found, in any number, al ng the lower wooded' ranges of the Southern Alps. The rarest species Apteryx haaeti is strictly confined to the wooded parts of Stewart Island. 'The Kakapd, or ground parrot is becoming a scarce bird. Formerly it was abundant along the whole of the West Coast Sounds and on the western slopes of the Southern Alps. l VTheJblue-watled crow and south island thrush, plentiful on the West Coast-in 1888, are now very rarely seen. :. In the North Island the Native thrush and some of the Smaller birds have disappeared altoother. ; ' remarkable tuatara lizard whioh became : extinct on the main, land. through: the ravages of wild pigßt.'stiJLexisfcg in vary considerable members on the, small islands off the •oasts. The makomako, or bellbird, though still plentiful in the Soutbf Island, has absolutely disappeared from ey^ry part of the North Igl|nd, buVst^exiatß,on.the, ( wooded islands of th^ Sauraki Gulf, Bay of Pl«njj r and ; on tfra island of Kapiti. The^same remarks apply with equal force, to tne wood-robin, and the white-head, two Bpacies of which have' never inhabited the South Island 'at all. The stitch-bird was thirty yeari ago very plentiful around Wellington ; , it is now extinct all over the mainland, but exists in plenty on the Little Barrier Island. Resolution island is believed to be tbe final refuge of the great flightless rail. .

iThe late Governor makes an earn-a«t-appeal for the protection of the Htfia (which has beeirdone) not only on his own account by from being moved to do so. by the chief of the Ngathttin Tribe. One of them, at the meeting at Otaki last year said "J^here, yonder, is the snow-clad; Ruahine Range, tha home of our favourite bird. We ask you, .0 Governor ! to restrain the pakehas from snooting 'it,' that when your boy grows up he may see the beautiful bird. ;syhich bears his name."