143

C—l

No doubt the weka is a finished thief; but he is not a fighter, because his wings are useless, and his courage is very little better for that purpose. The little teal are terrors to fight with each other, and. then they make their wings crack like whips, so that they could easily drive off a weka ; and as for a " paradise," she could kill one if she caught hold of it—but that would be the trouble. There are wekas on Resolution Island, and when I saw this one's talent I feared for the mother kakapo, who has to do all the nesting herself, until I remembered that she stays at home during the day and only goes to feed at night, when the wekas are mostly tired. This habit she can thank for the very existence of her race. We have spent a great deal of time clearing for grass, in the hope of fostering paradise ducks. We were inclined to foster wekas also, and were fortunate in having the experience with the goose's nest, otherwise we might have worked for a certain failure. Now, if I get the ducks the Maori-hen will have to leave Pigeon Island. With all their intellect they have weak points, of course, for the strangers will walk up and put their heads in a snare when you hold them out a bait on the point of a stick ; and all those who are near at hand will come out and show themselves, while those that are far away are often calling out to tell where they are. I was always friendly to the poor old wekas, and thought them well worth developing, and I am very sorry to have to write them down so mischievous among their fellows. For all that they may turn out to be the most valuable pets in New Zealand. We saw them skipping about at dusk catching moths and beetles on the wing; and with their very great cleverness and their tireless activity I think they would be a cure for the codlin-moths in orchards. There was some talk of importing bats from England for that purpose, but a bat is a mammal that might catch flies near an anthrax carcase and then fly away over fences and rivers to drop the germs of disease or die among healthy stock ; and if we only knew enough about their migrations in the Old World the flight of disease might not appear so mysterious. In Victoria I knew where many hundreds of bats, perhaps thousands, used to sleep in a great old hollow tree, and often saw them streaming out of there in the evening like a swarm of bees. They were easily caught in dozens with a piece of netting, and I found that every one carried a variety of very visible parasites, and perhaps invisible ones, because they had an offensive smell. They often hawk for flies about dwellings and animal camping-grounds, so that they appear to be ideal mediums for collecting, exchanging, and distributing germs. A new race of bats invigorated by transportation might turn out the very worst importation for New Zealand. On the other hand, a weka is the easiest of all birds to inclose where it is wanted, also the easiest to catch, to keep, and to carry, and would be likely to thrive well in its native land. If they only lived in England our fruitgrowers would be longing for them ; but because they are at hand they are not much thought of in their own country. No doubt they will be eagerly inquired for in far-off countries if ever it is known that they have all the qualifications required. Since writing the above I find that they will kill each other's young, and this, with the curious habit of leaving them behind, makes it necessary that each pair, when breeding, should have a run of their own, and be able to " make it warm " for all intruders. When the little ones are alarmed they pipe out a penetrating call for assistance, and the old ones appear as if by magic. Perhaps that is why the cunning rat did not eat them—he feared that shrill call and its consequences. When our chickens were about seven weeks old the mother handed them over to the father and took no more care of them, but went up on the hill behind the house, built another nest, and had three eggs in it partly hatched on the 28th October. I took one of them to get the embryo for Dr. Parker, intending to take the others at different stages if I am at home. At this rate every gardener could breed as many as he wanted. They can swim and dive well to escape, but I never saw them in the water except on business. It is wonderful how they can dispose of food, for they seem to be never beaten either by quality or quantity. A few minutes after a feast they are as hungry as ever, and they get rolling fat very quickly. Our weka looks after his two big chickens during the day, bags food for them or hunts it up on the beach, and apparently gives them everything he gets. Sometimes he gives them a wigging and chases them away—for schooling, I suppose—yet he fights for them and has many a lively run hunting away intruders, who sometimes chase them and make them scream for assistance. Then he snorts and coughs, and his eyes glare with indignation as he rushes about looking for the offender, who is often sly enough to flip round a corner and make a bee-line out of dangerous ground. At the end of October this is his usual day's work until some time in the afternoon, when he goes up the hill to the nest where his mate is hatching, takes her place, and lets her come out for food. If we see her we give her plenty, but she is in no hurry returning, evidently confident that the eggs are safe in his keeping until she has had her outing at leisure. I wonder greatly they are such good managers if they cannot talk. Fancy him going up to the nest, if you can, and putting her off it without exchanging ideas about his object or intention, and without promising to remain until she returns. It is far easier for me to imagine him saying, " Come out now and get something to eat; I will take care of the eggs until you return, and do not be in any hurry, because I am tired and will be glad of a rest here." 17th November. —This evening I was looking at the antics of the woodhens when Scrag made a rush at something, and then I heard a rat screaming in a big hole under a stump. The dogs also heard it, and I had just time to see the weka drag out a rat when the dogs rushed in and killed the rodent, and I lost the chance of as great a treat as a bull-fight. I know it would require the keenest activity for a weka to kill a rat single-handed, and am not sure that it could do so; but the rat's screams would be sure to attract another weka, and then I think the pair could manage it quite easily, for one could hold while the other stabbed, or both could tug and pull, in which they seem to take a delight, and are very tenacious, so that the rat would be 16—C. 1 App,