 he birds found in these wetlands now are, however, but a sad remnant of the avian population resident here until historical times. Many birds disappeared after the arrival of the Maori and more still were harried into extinction by the Pakeha. Introduced vermin, avian diseases and, most shamefully of all, the efforts of bird collectors each contributed to their demise. Although all the rarer species were under pressure from collectors during the nineteenth century, it was the huia, because of its beauty, that was singled out for special attention. J.G. Myers, writing in the New Zealand Journal of Science and Technology in 1923, blamed the decline in huia numbers on collectors. In fact, the Maori had always highly valued huia feathers, and only their relatively primitive weapons had saved the bird from an even earlier extinction. However, once the Maori were armed with shotguns it was an entirely different matter and Buller, writing in 1888, relates an instance of a party of 11 Maori scouring the forest between the Manawatu Gorge and Akitio and bringing in 646 skins. But it was the demand for its striking feathers created by the royal visit of 1901 which sealed the huia's fate.
One influential figure of this period who was alarmed at the rate at which the huia was declining was the then Govemor-general, the Earl of Onslow; the Earl tried to provide legal protection for the huia and several other species of birds. Indeed, he was sufficiently sympathetic to name his son ‘Huia’ when such names were definitely not comme il faut. He met the Maori chiefs of the Manawatu and Wairarapa districts at Otaki in 1891 and at this meeting one chief made the appeal: 'There, yonder, is the snow-clad Ruahine Range, the home of our favourite bird. We ask you, 0 Governor, to restrain the Pakehas from shooting it, that when your boy grows up he may see the beautiful bird that bears his name.' Though the loss of any bird is tragic, that of the huia is especially poignant. Besides the beauty of its plumage, it was the only known bird in the world where the beaks of the male and female differed, and dramatically so - the female beak was long and curved while that of the male was short and truck. It seems this difference served feeding functions, the male ripping off bark and the female probing the rotten wood exposed for grubs.
As one travels south towards Wellington through Foxton, Levin and Otaki the plain becomes gradually narrower, until after Paraparaumu the road is forced to follow a thin strip between the hills and the sea.
Foxton is worth visiting for the large numbers of birds which frequent the Manawatu estuary nearby. Each year black swans migrate north to the estuary from Lake Ellesmere in Canterbury, with royal spoonbills and white herons from Marlborough and Westland. Cattle egrets and glossy ibises are infrequently seen here, as well as at nearby Lake Horowhenua.
In 1934 a Mediterranean shearwater was found dead on the beach at Foxton, 20,000 kilometres from its nesting ground in the Atlantic. This undoubtedly earns this particular bird the title of the greatest avian aviator ever to be found in New Zealand. |
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