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It"is~much to be wished that the huia could be acclimatisated upon the island. Through the rapid clearing of the forests in its special home—the interior of the Wellington Provincial District —its very existence is threatened. There seems to be no reason why it should not succeed upon the Little Barrier Island, and it is hoped that before long the experiment may be tried. Through the kind offices of the Surveyor-General a remarkably fine pair of kiwis, obtained upon Mount Egmont, have been transferred to the island. In conclusion, it can be said that, as far as the Institute can judge, there is every prospect that a considerable portion of the avifauna of New Zealand may be preserved for many years to come upon the Little Barrier Island. To attain this end the Institute will gladly do all in its power.

RESOLUTION ISLAND. Bth December, 1897. Mr. Henry furnishes the following outline of his work since he wrote his report in March last:— It will be four months to-morrow since the steamer was here, and I may not have an opportunity of writing to you again before next March. By approximate appointment we came home on the 10th of last March to meet the steamer, but, of course, she cannot keep any definite time with all her rough landings and various work, so that we had a long time to wait until the 28th April. On that occasion I had to wait to receive the larger boat that was coming for me, but we occupied the time laying down ways for a slip and making carriage and capstan to haul her out. She was tender cargo and heavy, yet was delivered here by the " Hinemoa " without a scratch on her. We had her out on the 30th April for an overhaul, shortened the mast, cut down the sails and rigging, copper-painted her bottom, re-covered the deck with canvas, and put sundries for camping aboard. I found her to be thoroughly sound, and as good as new, and her sails were new. We launched her on the 27th May, and went away on the Bth June, but did not get on as well as we expected, for there was but little wind, and a couple of tons of ballast made her slow to pull about with oars, and liable to be stopped by the tide. Then squally winds broke our boom, swamped the dingey, and drowned a few of our birds in cages, so that we would prefer the calms to the ordinary winds among those mountains. From Cascade Cove we went one expedition up the creek and another south-west, trying to reach the lake or the open ground, but saw neither, only a dead monotony of level bush beyond the saddle, where it seems to be always raining. I had set myself the task of looking up the Notoniis, if there were any left, so I went into out-of-the-way places, but here there seemed to be no birds at all. Then we climbed high on to the mountains five times on the east side of the valley, when the tops were covered with snow, in hopes of finding refugees in the. bush or seeing their tracks, but there were only roas and a few kakapos. It was, however, too far and rough to carry them down, and we sailed away to the head of Breaksea Sound. I heard that the surveyors had found an easy track from Manapouri to Doubtful Sound, which is within a couple of miles of Breaksea Sound, and I could have a hunt there and do a little exploring as well. We got a spell of fine weather, and cut a track two miles northwards up the valley, rising 300 ft., then east straight up the ridge for 1,100 ft. in the bush, then up an old snow-slide where it was not safe to let go a handhold. On the top, 2,400 ft. high, there was bush again, but bedded in snow; yet it seemed to be mild, and there were plenty of birds' tracks, but no strangers. On the sunny faces were Gordyline indivisa in scores, and the finest of their kind, with leaves 5 ft. long and 7 in. wide. Only a little corner of Hall's Arm was to be seen, directly east, with a very rough road down to it : so it is no use for passengers, and not high enough for mountaineers, though country suitable for them is close at hand, with snow-peaks and cliffs, barrenness and desolation, in plenty. We then moved our boat down a mile or two, and anchored on the sunny side, where we got eleven kakapos and two kiwis, and sailed for Eesolution Island. We had a good knocking about coming home, so that it took me some time to remake lost cages and put things in order again. We were ambitious of a better garden, and therefore carried tons of kelp from the rocks. We also found a little guano in the penguin-caves, but to no purpose, for little or nothing has grown this year. There has been too much rain and wind, to say nothing about the soil. The rainfall for April was 21-38 in.; May, 12-93 in.; June, 10-92 in.; July, 18-49 in.; August, 13-21 in.; September, 13-16 in.; October, 20-17 in.; November, 21-55 in.: and for the last three months the strength of wind—nearly all in squalls —would about compare with the rain, but the winter was fairly calm and cold. On the 17th August half-way up Breaksea Sound "there were some hundreds of acres of thin ice in the shade, which reached half-way across the sound. It was a little over -J in. thick, and strong enough to stop our boat, so we had to back out and go round it. Every bare rock and beach was white with frost, which we hardly ever see on Eesolution Island ; but I think we get rain and wind instead. As we were coming down Bowen Passage, on the Ist September, we picked up a fur-seal that had been some time dead. There are holes in the skin of the head and neck that may have been done in fighting, but I think they are shot-holes. On our way out, on the 4th October, we spent a day on Anchor Island, and went along the shores of the lake to its southern end, where the shags have their breeding-place (of which I send details). We saw no other birds on the lake, and no ground-birds but wekas. There were a couple of little pigs liberated there two years ago, and we saw where one of them had recently barked the butt of a Panax arborum, which shows that they can live there at all events. On the 26th October the schooner "Belle," of the Bluff, was anchored in a cove just north of our place, with a party of fishermen, who told me that they were not going sealing, only sightseeing ; that they intended to go up the coast and get back to the Bluff by Christmas. Of course