The History of the Birds of New Zealand

Forest and Bird, Volume 15, Issue 2, 1 May 1984, Page 7

The History of the Birds of New Zealand

by

Ross Galbreath

| O MARK its 60th anniversary the Society has produced a facsimile-of Walter Lawry Buller’s A History of the Birds of New Zealand, first published in 1873. In this book Buller gave the first, and still one of the finest, comprehensive accounts of New Zealand’s bird life.

The original edition of Buller’s Birds is now a rare book preserved in libraries around the world; the facsimile will make its descriptions of bird life over a hundred years ago, and its beautiful coloured illustrations, more accessible. Buller wrote three large bird books, in 1873, 1888 and 1905. The last was written as a ‘supplement’ to the 1888 edition, which is the most familiar; its illustrations in particular have long provided the standard images of New Zealand’s best known birds. Buller rose

to fame and fortune by his efforts in science and law; these books were his greatest achievement. Walter Lawry Buller was a remarkable man, in many ways epitomising the Victorian era which his life spanned: energetic, confident and enterprising. He was born in 1838 at Pakanae, near Opononi, and grew up on his father’s mission station at Tangiteroria (between Dargaville and Whangarei). By the time he finished his education at the newly founded Wesleyan College in Auckland he was already

notable both for his precocious ability and for his interest in natural history, which in those times meant not only observing but also collecting specimens of birds and insects. After leaving school he worked for a time in a bank, then in 1855 moved to Wellington where he was appointed official interpreter of Maori in the Magistrate’s Court — a humble beginning to a successful legal career. In 1862 Buller was appointed Resident Magistrate for the Manawatu,

moving to Wanganui in 1866 (magistrates then were not required to have any legal training). During this time he also began working toward a boyhood ambition: to produce a grand illustrated volume on the birds of New Zealand. In 1862 he wrote to a friend: "at present every spare moment is devoted to the preparation of a ‘New Zealand Ornithological Manual’ which I have promised Sir George [Grey] to have ready for the press in the course of two months. . . He has also very liberally offered to get a thousand pounds or more

subscribed by his friends at home towards the publication of my larger work on the ‘Birds of New Zealand’ so I am now pushing on with that also". The smaller ‘Manual’ did not proceed quite as planned. Instead, he was invited to write an ‘Essay on the Ornithology of New Zealand’ for the New Zealand Exhibition to be held in Dunedin in 1865. This was a key step in Buller’s scientific career for it established his position in New Zealand as the recognised authority on birds. His essay was awarded a silver medal at the exhibition and printed in pamphlet form by the Exhibition Commissioners, then reprinted in the first volume of the Transactions of the New Zealand Institute. Buller sent copies to influential scientists in London, who circulated it further. Otto Finsch of Bremen translated the entire essay and reprinted it with his own comments in the German Ornithological Journal. Buller in turn had Finsch’s comments translated and published them with his own rejoinders in the Transactions of the New Zealand Institute. Thus Buller made his entry into the international scientific fraternity. Through the 1860s he continued to work at his book in his spare time, amassing bird specimens and details of life histories from a network of collectors and informants all over New Zealand. He had now decided that such a book should be published in London and illustrated by the most eminent natural history artists of the day, so in 1867 he applied to the Government for assistance in the project. Eventually in 1871, despite some opposition in Parliament, he was granted 18 months paid leave plus his passage to London in order to publish his book. There he was also to act as secretary to Dr Featherston, the Agent-General (the equivalent of today’s N.Z. High Commissioner in London). He also received a £300 grant in aid of publication and in return transferred his bird collection to the Colonial Museum and later provided the Government with 25 copies of his book. Many of these are still to be found in N.Z.’s older public libraries. In London, Buller set to work with his usual vigour. He worked hard at preparing his book for publication and soliciting more subscriptions (at three guineas) to add to those he had been collecting in New Zealand. Even the reclusive Charles Darwin sybscribed. At the same time he not only carried out many duties for Featherston, but also entered himself as a student at one of the Inns of Court to study law. On top of all this he enjoyed the London social life with his wife. They dined with nobility and were even presented to the Queen. Buller published his book by parts; the first appeared in March 1872. But when his leave expired neither the book nor his law studies were finished, so he applied for a further year. This began a tug-of-war between Buller and Featherston in London stretching his paid leave there as long as possible, and the Colonial Secretary in Wellington trying to bring him back. Eventually he was forced to resign his New Zealand magistrate’s position but he continued as Featherston’s secretary. Publication of A History of the Birds of New Zealand was completed in March 1873, but he was not called to the bar until June 1874; the Bullers sailed for New Zealand a few weeks later. A History of the Birds of New Zealand stands as Buller’s finest achievement — his masterpiece. Even today it remains an important source of information, especially on the species then still present but now extinct or nearly so. The illustrations, by the specialist bird artist J. G. Keulemans have a style and charm that is still appealing. They were printed by lithography and then coloured by hand, a laborious method of print-making which flowered briefly in the 19th century. Keulemans did a painting as a pattern for each plate, and sketched it with crayon on lithographic stone. This was used to print the outline of the illustration which then went to a team of colourists who, copying

Keulemans’ pattern, painted each one with water colours. Keulemans received £2 for each of the 35 plates and the colourists about the same amount per hundred copies; 500 copies of the book were produced. Buller listed an impressive collection of qualifications after his name on the title page, headed by a doctorate of science, which he had obtained with Otto Finsch’s assistance from Tubingen University in Germany on the basis of his Dunedin Exhibition essay. He did not rest after finishing his book, but continued to produce a stream of papers for the scientific journals. In 1879, in recognition of his work in ornithology, he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of London — then and now a mark of the highest scientific eminence, the ‘blue riband of science’ as Buller called it. The newspapers congratulated ‘the first scientific man, born and educated in any of the colonies, who has received this distinction’. Nor had he been idle in other spheres. On his return to New Zealand in 1874, the newly qualified barrister made use of his knowledge of Maori and quickly established himself in the intricate but profitable business of Maori land law. He was so successful that after little more than ten years he was able to retire. He sailed again for London as one of the New Zealand Commissioners for the great Colonial and Indian Exhibition of 1886 and helped set up the New Zealand court there. Subsequently he was knighted KCMG for his services at the Exhibition — again the first New Zealand-born person to receive this honour. Also in London he set about publishing a new edition of his book. He had been working on this for some years and had already collected several hundred subscriptions (at ten guineas this time). Publication was completed in 1888 and reviewers of the time considered the new work (in two volumes, in larger format than before and with more illustrations) as even better than the earlier edition. Keulemans’ paintings this time were reproduced by the new process of colour lithography and are familiar images to this day, having been reprinted and copied endlessly in books, calendars, stationery, posters, cards etc. To my eye, they are inferior to the hand-coloured lithographs of the 1873 edition, which are generally more lifelike, more spontaneous in their execution and more subtle in their colouring, but perhaps the second edition plates have suffered from over-exposure. Buller returned to New Zealand in 1890 but in 1898, after the death of his wife, and other setbacks, he left the country for the last time. In England, though his health was failing, he published his final Supplement to the Birds. of New Zealand, again illustrated by Keulemans. Publication was not long completed when he died in July 1906 at his daughter’s home in Hampshire. Walter Buller was too ambitious, successful and controversial to be widely liked in his own time. Much has changed since then. The controversies have been forgotten, while the land he knew has been greatly modified, but despite the pessimism of Buller and his contemporaries, most of the birds still survive. At the end of a career of documenting their decline towards apparently inevitable extinction, Buller supported the earliest conservation efforts and the establishment of island sanctuaries. Today he is remembered for his books, and for his birds — particularly Buller’s Mollymawk and Shearwater, the Black-billed Gull (Larus bulleri) and the Stewart Island Kiwi (Apteryx australis lawryi), living memorials to his name. This account of Buller’s life was drawn from published articles, Buller’s books and some of his letters, now held in the Alexander Turnbull Library. The author has been researching Buller’s life and work for several years and would appreciate hearing of any further information, letters, photographs, etc. Please write to P.O. Box 6, Onewhero,

New Zealand.