Fern Bird.

The mystery of the disappearance of the Fern Bird must remain unsolved; one possibility does, nevertheless, suggest itself— weather conditions may have been responsible. During the 1917 flood over twenty inches of rain fell without a pause during three days. Twice, moreover, the raingauge overflowed, so that quite possibly two and a half feet or more may have fallen. This deluge was accompanied by a bitter gale: the flat lands—the principal haunts of the Fern Bird—were completely submerged at the time and afterwards covered with mud from six inches to three feet deep. The Fern Birds of Tutira may have been drowned or pelted to death in the bitter blast of that great flood.