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hunting. The kakapos from Green Point- were all splendid birds, both for beauty and size and rolling fat; but I did not prefer them, because they were changing for the worse. Green Point is a happy land for kakapos. Those from the west side of Cascade would have a change for the better at Duck Cove. However, they will probably be better off mixed up a little—that is, if they speak the same language, and have no tribal enmities. Last year we put nine in the same place from Mount Foster, and when we bring a few from Cascade there will be a meeting of very distant relatives. On the evening of the 6th June we went to Cascade, and came away on the 11th with ten kakapos and four roas. The latter we put on Indian Island and the kakapos we brought to Facile Harbour, east of Pigeon Island. I will get a map ready some day with the number and locality of all the emigrants marked on it. Lake. —On the 14th June we went down to Useless Harbour to have a look at our new lake that we saw from Mount Phillips a year ago. It has been like a phantom lake to us, because we tried several times to get to it, but did not succeed until to-day. It is about 300 ft. above the sea in the west end of the peninsula formed by Wahopai Harbour. The whole peninsula is a maze of abrupt hills and hollows, as rough as it could be, and the lake has no level or sloping banks, and I called it "useless" lake. It discharges westward down a very steep gully, more like a rift in a precipice, and that way is within a few hundred yards of the sea. Its area may be 200 or 300 acres. The water looks black and stagnant, and " useless "is a very good name for it. I thought it might be a good place to sow some of the Canadian rice you sent me ; that is why I went to it to-day. There is little or no water here suitable for the rice, but I may find a place yet. We only saw one pair of paradise ducks in Cascade, and there appears to be no grass at all, so we spent three days from the 17th June clearing and burning a little strip at the head, half a chain from the tide-mark, leaving a belt of scrub and flax for a breakwind. There are a good many acres there of a low swampy flat, covered with timber of course. It is not a very promising place, but it is sunny and sheltered, and may do for an experiment. Went to Pickersgill on the 20th and came home on the 22nd, bringing two roas for Long Island and eight kakapos and one kiwi for Resolution. We had the most beautiful weather, as bright and mild as it could be in Auckland. On the 26th went to Mount Foster, up at Wet Jacket, and only just got ready for work when the rain began, and it rained 8 in. in six days, and in every way our luck was all out, and we came away on the 7th July with only four kakapos and one kiwi. June was our driest month this year—only six wet days, and 571 in. of rain. I propose not to go out again until they (the birds) are laying, when I want to get eggs and embryos for Dr. Parker. I will do something towards boatshed, shingle-splitting, and piles, &c, and we have a standing job at clearing. Geese. —Captain Neal left me three geese, and I was very glad to get them for an experiment. I send you a specimen of seaweed very abundant here. It stands constant cropping, and is the mainstay of the rats. A lighthouse-keeper told me that a man could live on it for a while, and in theory it is just the thing for geese. It is quite soft when growing. If the geese will not eat it I will not keep them here. In October we gave up our clearing operations for good, intending to spend all our time bird-hunting. The first season we were here some seed dropped out of packing-cases, and the grass grew up to my knees, and I thought it was right for grass. I could see that we would be many a day weatherbound here and started a little clearing in hopes of a burn, but it would not burn ; and then, having done so much, I did not like to leave it, and spent a lot of time at it this season. Last season I took to be exceptionally bad, but this season has been worse for growing, there having been so little sunshine, though not so very much wet. On the 2nd November we went to a place on the south coast, which we call " Dry Point," not for want of rain, but because we could not get fresh water handy on account of loose stones. It is opposite the middle of Long Island, a good place for kakapos, but the greater part of it is too steep to walk on. Stayed fourteen days, and put over on Long Island thirty-four kakapos, ten kiwis, and one roa. Long Island is a good place for them, and we consider it stocked now. I enclose a tracing showing the number of birds put over on all the islands. I have written fourteen pages foolscap about woodhens. The only items of importance are that they are outrageous egg-eaters, and that they would probably be very valuable in orchards. If any acclimatisation society is willing to introduce them to fruitgrowers I will be happy to send them anywhere under your directions. I could get them from the islands where I put kakapos, so that they would be no loss here, and in the land they are going to their trustful manners would be security against their becoming a nuisance. On the 22nd November went to Breaksea Sound, to put birds on the north of Resolution. Our camp was in Beach Harbour, two miles east of Acheron Passage, a sheltered warm place where we had twelve dry days, and could go hunting without oilskins. It was only three miles and a half to Resolution, and, though the heads of Breaksea are protected by two islands, the waves came in at the least wind, and the tide made a confused sea at the head of Acheron, where we wanted to cross. Got over twice quite comfortably, and then had a rough passage. Of course, I should not have ventured only we had a lot of birds, and it was quite impossible to protect them from the sandflies, and that made me anxious to go. On the 26th November I liberated thirteen kakapos and one kiwi above Occasional Cove ; on the 28th November, thirteen kakapos and one kiwi in Occasional Cove ; on the 2nd December, eleven kakapos and five kiwis in Occasional Cove ; on the sth December, six kakapos, three kiwis, and one roa, a mile southward : making the total liberated, forty-three kakapos, ten kiwis, and one roa. We had a fairly good place for birds, but soon hunted out the best of it, and found it useless to go over the ground a second time. The first day we went eastward, and got nine kakapos, and the last day we were there we went over the same ground a long march, and only got two. The dog