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NOTORN 3urnal of the Ornithological Society of New Zealand Volume 25 Part 3 September 1978 OFFICERS 1978 - 79 President -Mr. B. D. BELL, Wildlife Service, Dept. of Internal Affairs, Private Bag, Wellington Vice-president -Mr. M. L. FALCONER, 188 Miromiro Road, Normandale, Lower Hurt Editor -Mr. B. D. HEATHER, 10 Jocelyn Crescent, Silverstream Treasurer - Mr. H. W. M. HOGG, P.O. Box 3011, Dunedin Secretary -Mr. H. A. BEST, Wildlife Service, Dept. of Internal Affairs, Wellington Council Members: Dr. BEN D. BELL, 45 Gurney Road, Belmont, Lower Hutt Mrs. B. BROWN, 39 Red Hill Road, Papakura Dr. P. C. BULL, 131 Waterloo Road, Lower Hutt Mr D. E. CROCKETT, 21 McMillan Avenue, Kamo, Whangarei Mr. F. C. KINSKY, 338 The Parade, Island Bay, Wellington 5 Mrs. S. M. REED, 4 Mamaku Street, Auckland 5 Mr. R. R. SUTTON, Lorneville, No. 4 R.D., Invercargill Conveners and Organisers: Rare Birds Committee (Acting): Mr. B. D. BELL Beach Patrol: Mr. C. R. VEITCH, Wildlife Service, Dept. of Internal Affairs, P.O. Box 2220, Auckland Card Committee: Mr. R. N. THOMAS, 25 Ravenswood Drive, Forest Hill, Auckland 10 Field Investigation Committee: Mr. B. D. BELL Librarian: Miss A. J. GOODWIN, R.D. 1, Clevedon Nest Records: Mr. D. E. CROCKETT Recording (including material for Classified Summarised Notes) : Mr. R. B. SIBSON, 26 Entrican Avenue, Remuera, Auckland Representative on Member Bodies' Committee of Royal Society of NZ.: Mr. B. D. BELL Assistant Editor: Mr A. BLACKBURN, 10 Score Road, Gisborne Editor of OSNZ News: Mr P. SAGAR, 21362 Hereford St., Christchurch SUBSCRIPTIONS AND MEMBERSHIP Annual Subscription: Ordinary membership $6; Husband/Wife member- ship $9; Life membership $120 (age over 30); Junior member. ship (age under 20) $4.50; Family membership (one Notornis per household) other members of a family living in one house- hold where one is already a member $3; Institutional subscrip tions $10; overseas subscriptions $2.00 extra. Subscriptions are payable on a calendar year basis at the time of application for membership and on receipt of invoice each January. Prompt payment of subscription will ensure continued receipt of Notornis, the quarterly journal published on or about the 20th of the stated month. Applications for membership, changes of address and letters of resig- nation should be sent to the Treasurer. Editorial matters ONLY should be addressed to the Editor. Exchanges and library subscriptions should be referred to the Treasurer. [Registered with the GPO, Gisborne, as a publication] CONTENTS LAVERS . R . B . Distribution of the North Island Kokako ...... 165 McKENZIE. H . R . New Zealand Dotterel Banding Report No. 1 186 WODZICKI. K . White Island - Volcanic Activity and Bird Life 195 BROWN. B. LATHAM. P . C . M . Grey Phalarclpe in the Bay of Plenty. ...... ....- ....................... ...... 198 FOX. N . C. Territorial Spacing of the New Zealand Falcon ...... 203 ROWE. B. Incubation Temperatures of the North Island Brown Kiwi ........................................ 213 HEATHER. B. D . The Cattle Egret in New Zealand in 1977 ...... 218 Annual General Meeting 1978 Reports ....................... 235 Abstracts of A.G.M. Talks ................................... 244 Gaze. P . D . North Island Rifleman Gill B. J . Grey Warbler Jenkins. P . F . Fernbird Craig. J . L . Bellbird Stewart. A . Tui Bisset. J . Pied Tit Short Notes GILL. B. J . Nomenclature of the Shining Cuckoo ...... ...... JENKINS, J . Swallows at Sea to the North of N.Z. ............ SYMS. S. Welcome Swallow in Mid-Tasman Sea ...... ...... CLUNIE. F . Fiji White-throated Pigeon Nesting in an epiphyte fern JENKINS. J . Waders at Sea ............ ...... ...... ...... STANTON, B . R . Trans-Tasman Shags ........... ...... ...... TAYLOR, F . J . Additional Bird Records from Rarotonga ...... TAYLOR. T . J . The Cirl Bunting in Marlborough ............ LAUDER. C . S. Breeding of Australian Little Grebe ............ CHILD. P . Yellowhead not entirely Insectivorous ...... ...... SIBSON. R . B . Common Sandpiper in Manukau Harbour ...... DENNISON. M . D . & T . C .. .ROBERTSON. H . A . Notes on the Chatham Island Fantad .............................. LOVEGROVE. T . Swallows at Sea ....................... Letter A . BLACKBURN .......................................... 256 Printed bv TI2 RAU PRESS LTD., Peel Street. G.sborne REGIONAL REPRESENTATIVES FAR NORTH: D. E. Crockett, 21 McMillan Ave., Kamo, Whangarei. NORTHLAND: ) Ph. 50954. AUCKLAND: Mrs S. Reed, 4 Mamaku St., Auckland 5. Ph. 547784. SOUTH AUCKLAND: Mrs Beth Brown, 39 Red Hill Rd., Papakura. Ph. 2988157. WAIKATO: Mrs B. Seddon, 11 Grey Street, Cambridge. Ph. 7761. BAY OF PLENTY: R. M. Weston, 250 River Road, Kawerau. Ph. 8357. VOLCANIC PLATEAU: R. W. Jackson, 9 Kenrick Road, Rotorua. Ph. 86907. GISBORNE/WAIROA: J. C. Henley, 9 Mason St., Gisborne. Ph. 85181. TARANAKI: R. W. Wheeler, 307a Carrington Street, New Plymouth. Ph. 36476. MANAWATU: Dr L. J. Davies, DSIR, Private Bag, Palmerston North.. Ph. 87680. HAWKES BAY: N. B. Mackenzie, Wildlife Trust, Main Road, Westshore, Napier. Ph. 59451. WAIRARAPA: Mr D. Sim, Lake Ferry, R.D. 2, Featherston. Ph. 828 Pirinoa. WANGANUI: L. C. Edlin, 5 Poutini Street, Wanganui East. WELLINGTON: M. L. Falconer, 188 Miromiro Road, Normandale, Lower Hutt. Ph. 662702. NELSON: Mrs J. Hawkins, 772 Atawhai Drive, Nelson. Ph. 300ST. MARLBOROUGH: J. A. Cowie, P.O. Box 59, Kaikoura. CANTERBURY: P. Sagar, Flat 2, 362 Hereford Street, Christchurch. Ph. 895155. WEST COAST: C. S. Lauder, 9 Winnie Street, Greymouth. Ph. 6349. OTAGO: Mrs J. B. Hamel, 42 Ann Street, Roslyn, Dunedin. Ph. 65203. SOUTHLAND: R. R. Sutton, Lorneville, No. 4 R.D., Invercargill. Ph. 358230. LITERATURE AVAILABLE From all bookshops: Annotated checklist of the birds of New Zealand. (OSNZ) $4.95 A field uide to the birds of New Zealand, by R. A. Falla, R. B. ~bsonand E. G. Turbott, 2nd rev. ed. $5 .OO From B. D. Heafher, 10 Jocelyn Crescent, Silverstream: A biology of birds, by B. D. Heather. $1.33 From B. A. Ellis, 44 Braithwaite Street, Wellington 5: Field ide to the waders, by H. T. Condon & A. R. ~c~ilf? Post Free $1.20 From Mrs H. Hagen, 53 Minnehaha Street, Titirangi, Auckland 7: Back numbers of ' Notornis ': Parts of Vol. 1, 50c each; Vols. 2-13, $1.00 per part; Vols. 14-21, $1.50 per part; Vols. 22-, $2.00 per part. Reports and bulletins (1939-1942) $2.00 OSNZ Library catalogue (1976 ed) 17 pp. $0.50 Banding reports, Nos 8-14, 50c each. (Nos 1-7 are incorporated in early issues of ' Notornis ') . Kermadec Expedition, 1964, by A. T. Edgar. 4% Guide to Identification of Shearwaters and Petrels in New Zealand waters (Auckland Museum), J. P. Croxall $0.50 From P. C. Harper, 58B Baylands Drive, Newlands, Wellington: Southern albatrosses and petrels: an identification guide, by P. C. Harper & F. C. Kinsky, 1978 edition $5.00 All above, plus 10% of order to cover postage. NOTORNIS is the journal of the Ornithological Society of New Zealand (Inc.) Editor: B. D. Heather, 10 Jocelyn Crescent, SILVERSTREAM VOLUME 25 PART 3 SEPTEMBER, 1978 DISTRIBUTION OF THE NORTH ISLAND KOKAKO (Callaeas cinereo wilsoni) A REVIEW By R. B. LAVERS Wildlife Service, Department of Internal Affairs " The crow . is sparingly dispersed over the North Island, being very local in its distribution." - W. L. Buller (1882) ABSTRACT The past and present distribution of the North Island Kokako is determined from reported observations for four periods: pre-1900; 1900-1939; 1940-1959; and 1960-1970. Changes in distribution are described for nine geographical districts. Since the late 19th century distribution has contracted in areas to the north and south of the central Volcanic Plateau. This is attributed mainly to the removal of suitable forest habitat. The Kokako is a weak flier and, with continued deforestation, populations are further isolated from one another and the survival of the species is threatened. INTRODUCTION According to Maori tradition the Kokako was once common " on all the ranges of the North Island forests " (Reischek 1886) and a sub-fossil remains indicate a widespread distribution before the arrival of European settlers. In the period immediately following settlement the bird was widely but irregularly distributed in many parts of the North Island (Buller 1882, 1892, 1905, Martin 1885, Reischek 1886, Medway 1968). By the turn of the century, however, it was thought to be " fast disappearing before civilization " (Anon. 1892); and where it was once considered common (e.g. Wellington province) Buller (1905) noted that " with the destruction of native bush, il has long since disappeared." Oliver (1955) recorded that in Northland the Kokako had gone by about 1900 and Best (1908) and M'Lean (191 2) regarded it as rare in the Urewera in the early 1900s. 166 LAVERS NOTORNIS 25 Although the distribution continued to shrink in the first half of the 20th century, repcrted sightings of Kokako in the last 30 years show that the bird has remained in many forests, especially those in the centre of the North Island (Falla et al. 1966, Fisher et al. 1969, MacDonald 1966, Turbott 1967). While the reduction in range has continued with the logging of indigenous forests, recent reports indicate that in extensive unmilled areas the remaining populations are possibly fairly stable. This paper txamines the past and present range of the Kokako and summarizes all available records about its distribution up to 1970. Information on early distribution was compiled from a literature search, from personal communication with local and overseas museums and institutions, and with people known to have observed Kokako. A list of museums holding specimens will be published separately (Lavers, in prep.). Observations have been grouped according to the period in which they were made:- pre-1900; 1900-1939; 1940-1959; 1960-1970. Few reports give precise details of localities. Where it has been possible to place reports within a 10,000 yard square (on the national grid) this has been done (Figs 1-4). Less precise records are omitted from the maps but are included in the summary of distribution for a particular district (Appendix 1).