C.—6

14

An important event which happened during the year was the identification of the kiwi on the island. These birds have increased considerably during the last few years. As many as six different birds have been heard calling at the same time. As there was no record on the file here as to which species had been liberated on the sanctuary, I was naturally anxious to see the birds. I had thought some of the birds I heard calling were the little grey kiwi, but I understood from Mr. E. Phillips Turner that the birds liberated by him were obtained in the Upper Whanganui, so those would be the brown kiwi. However, the mystery has been solved so far as two species at least are concerned. I asked Mr. Fletcher, the opossum-trapper, to keep a good lookout for kiwi, so on the 10th March he brought me an adult bird that he had caught close to his hut at the waterfall. The bird proved to be the little grey kiwi (Apteryx oweni) from the South Island. The bird was in good condition, and after being examined was returned to the place where it had been caught. On the 22nd March the trapper brought me another kiwi, which proved to be the North Island brown kiwi (Apteryx mantelli), so that we have two species of kiwi on the island. This bird was returned to the Kaiwharawhara Valley, where it was caught. It was in a good healthy condition but infested with lice. The kakapo was seen several times during the year. Sea-birds also have had a good season, especially the big handsome gulls (Lams dominicanus). One pair nested on the beach at Rangatira and reared three young ones. Gulls have not nested there since the summer of 1923, when a pair reared a family of three. During the year I received many rare plants from different people who are interested in the preservation of our native flora, and I take this opportunity of placing on record my thanks and appreciation for the trouble and expense incurred by the donors, whose names are here mentioned : Mr. H. Fitton, Paraparaumu Beach —plants of Hoheria populnea ; Miss Phyllis Arden, New Plymouth —three dozen plants of Marattia fraxinea ; Mr. O'Connor, Wadestown —plants of Elatostema rugosum and Dracophyllum latifolium; Mr. K. W. Dalrymple, Bulls —plants of Podocarpus dacrydioides, Myoporum laetum, Aristotelia racemosa, Solanum avicidare, Bulbophyllum tuberculatum, Sicyos angulata, Veronica cataractae, V. Lyallii, Rubus parvus, Pittosporum crassifolium, Coprosma repens, C. Petrei, and Pratia angulata; Mr. A. Morris Jones, Karori —plants of Dacrydium cupressinum, Podocarpus dacrydioides, Nothofagus truncata, Cyathodes acerosa, Blechnum patersoni, and seeds of Notospartium carmichaeliae ; Mrs. T. Smith, Brooklyn—plants of Pomaderris elliptica and Dracophyllum longifolium ; Mr. A. Ainsworth, Kilbirnie —plants of Veronica Hulkeana ; Mr. W. Hurrow, Paraparaumu —200 plants of Coprosma retusa. The Myoporum, Aristotelia, and Solanum presented by Mr. Dalrymple were the large-leaved form, and were collected on Mercury Island, Bay of Plenty. All the plants were put out in suitable places on different parts of the sanctuary after the names were entered in my plant-ledger. Besides these plants, many others common to the island were planted out in the open places and along the shore from Webber's to the south end. Seeds of taupata, manuka, ngaio, pohutukawa, kohepiro,' and karaka were planted about, mostly on the western side. During the year two plants that have not previously been recorded as growing on Kapiti were found. One is Melicope simplex, growing in Taepiro, and the other a rare fern growing on a dry manuka spur close to the Te Rere Stream. I sent some of the fern to Doctor H. H. Allan, the noted botanist, who forwarded them to the authorities at Kew Gardens. It was pronounced to be Polystichum mohrioides, a fern which I believe has only been reported as growing in the New Zealand area in the Auckland Islands. It is evidently very rare, as Cheeseman does not include it in the second edition of his Manual, but adds a note, " I have omitted from the enumeration P. mohrioides (Prest), the existence of which in the New Zealand area depends entirely on Mr. Kirk's record in Trans. N.Z. xiv, 386. There are no specimens in his herbarium, and I fear that some mistake was made in the identification." The finding of this fern on Kapiti proves that Mr. Kirk was right in his identification, and it must be added to the New Zealand list of polystichums. The most important work remaining to be done on the island is the extermination of the opossum and rats. Both these animals are enemies of our native birds, and must be exterminated before the island can be called a sanctuary. The eradication of these animals, the rat especially, will prove to be a very difficult proposition. Mr. Fletcher has done good work in getting the opossums so low in numbers —so low, indeed, that he finds it difficult to make a living-wage by trapping alone. Were it not that he has an excellent dog to hunt out these animals he would hardly catch any. Many of those caught by the dog were maimed, showing that they had been caught in the traps and escaped. The extermination of the rats will be more difficult to accomplish than were the goats, and they were hard enough. The trapper occasionally catches a few in his opossum-traps, but the traps have to be baited to take rats, and the bait is also an attraction for several of our native birds, so the greatest of care must be exercised. Poisoning is likewise very risky. Trapping and poisoning in a very restricted area has been carried out during the year, but these pests are still too numerous. While it is impossible to estimate the number poisoned, it is easy to get at the number trapped, as a strict record is kept both by the trapper and myself. The total for the year reached 419.