IS THE HUIA EXTINCT?
AN OLD SETTLER’S OPINION. That picturesque New Zealand bird, the inquisitive huia, now commonly accepted las being' extinct, was recently reported to have been seen last in ,1906. The “Wanganui Chronicle” Iras been informed that ■huias have been seen on at least two occasions since then, the last i'being in 1914. | Mr. Gregor M'Gregor, of Banana j (Wanganui River), .states that in I 1908 and 1909, at the request of the New Zealand Government, he 1 and the late Mr. Augustus Hamilton, 'Curator of the Wellington Museum, made a special search for tlhe birds in the Ruahine Ranges. On the second trip they cut a track from the upper end of the ranges dolwn to .Oolenso’s track, /and it was then that they saw a huia high lip in a tree about a. chain away. Mr. M'Gregor “called” the bird, but its mate was apparently on the other side iof the gully, and it .left without coming any closer. Relating this incident, Mjr. M'Gregor said he was of the opinion that huias could still be found in the untraversed portions of the Rua\lhine and Tararua Ranges, and possibly back in the Kaimahawas. In 1914, huias were seen at ! Wbango near Rlaurimu, by a, resident of that district, who was searching in the back country for ■some lost bullocks. Tlhe birds had apparently been driven down to the lower levels by .a fall >of snow. There are other reports .of huias having been seen, but it is .thought that in most cases the birds seen ■were the native kiakapo —a large parrot of awkward build, which cannot fly. This bird is rare, hut not extinct.
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Manawatu Herald, Volume L, Issue 3892, 8 January 1929, Page 1
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278IS THE HUIA EXTINCT? Manawatu Herald, Volume L, Issue 3892, 8 January 1929, Page 1
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