fowl: plumage of a black and blue colour, with a red bill and long red
legs. These birds inhabit swamps, or the shallow shores of lakes, where
they stalk about with tails erect, their white undercoverts showing out
conspicuously from the dark plumage. Where they are often disturbed, a
few are always on the watch, whilst others feed, and on the approach of
danger the watchers give a note of alarm and all disappear in the swamp.
When plentiful near a cultivation they are destructive to crops of grain,
as they eat the young shoots.—A. R.
[18] THE TERRACES.
The White and Pink Terraces were situated on the shores of Lake
Rotomahana, a warm lake, as its name indicates (from Roto, lake, and
mahana, warm). The lake was surrounded by hills, and it was on the sides
of these hills, sloping down to the lake, that the Terraces had been
formed. At the top of the White Terrace was a hollow in the hill-side,
and in the centre of this was a great geyser. The water rising in the
geyser overflowed its basin, and streaming down the sloping ground into
the lake, cooled, and deposited a white incrustation of silica. On the
opposite side of the lake was a similar terrace, known as the Pink
Terrace, which, owing to the presence of a little iron oxide, was of a
delicate shade of pink. Thus, in the course of unknown ages had been
built up the wonderful Terraces of Rotomahana, structures which for
purity of colour and beauty of sculpturing were unrivalled in the world.
The White Terrace covered an area of about four acres, the Pink Terrace
was a little smaller.
[19] The heat of the geysers and hot-springs around Rotomahana was
doubtless derived from the volcanic fires which slumbered beneath the
Tarawera Mountain, standing at a distance of some miles. This mountain
was an old volcano, but its true nature was hardly recognized. On June
10th, 1886, the old volcano awoke to new life, and a violent paroxysmal
eruption rent the mountain asunder, the chasm extending beyond its foot
and through Rotomahana. The ground around the lake and beneath its waters
to the depth of 500 feet was blown into the air, and the beauty of the
terraces was lost to the world for ever.—A. P. W. T.
[20] Lennox Falls. Mt. Earnslaw.—K. C.
[21] The Mountain Lily (_Ranunculus Lyallii_) of the South Island is a
large and handsome buttercup, perhaps the most beautiful of its kind.
Its numerous flowers are four inches across, the petals being of a pure
waxy-white; the leaves are very large, round, and somewhat cup-shaped.
Its favourite spot is by the side of some mountain stream.—A. P. W. T.
[22] The Mountain-parrot. Kea. (_Nestor notabilis_)—A dull green parrot
which inhabits the alpine mountains of New Zealand. It is found sitting
about the rocks and snow-grass, or seen circling high in the air, where
one can hear its call, which is like that of the European Stone Eagle.
When the sheep died upon the hills or vast runs, the blowflies would
deposit their larvæ in the bodies. After a while the Keas hovering
over would see the maggots moving, alight on the sheep, and feed upon
the insects, getting pieces of fat and meat with them. In this manner
the birds found it was an easier way of procuring food than by seeking
berries and seeds, or searching for grubs, and so it became a habit for
them to attack even living sheep.—A. R.
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