Evening Republican, Volume 14, Number 309, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 29 December 1910 — Bird That Depends on Mate for Life. [ARTICLE]

Bird That Depends on Mate for Life.

A final attempt is being made by the New Zealand government to obtain specimens of the hula, a bird which has been practically exterminated by the vogue for its feathers which obtained among the Maoris. The hula Is a jet black bird, with a white band at the extreme end of its tall feathers. The birds are hatched in pairs. The male has a short strong beak and the female a long, slender, Incurved beak; the male breaks the bark off dead trees and the female then dips her beak into the holes of the big grubs which attack dead timber. She presents one grub to her spouse and then , has one herself, alternating most conscientiously. The Maoris say that when one dies the other must necessarily die of starvation, because nature has so arranged that each is dependent on the other.