Manawatu

The data of Atkinson and Greenwood (1972) on drought damage to trees in 1969-70 in two bush patches in the Manawatu district are reassessed, and an index of drought susceptibility based on their data used to classify species into three categories of susceptibility. The results of this categorisation are compared with independent data on the effects of the 1972-73 drought on the nearby bush remnant at Ashhurst Domain. The behaviour of species in all three bush patches is shown to be similar.

Results of a survey of the present distribution of the brown tree frog (Litoria ewingi) in the Manawatu and Rangitikei region of the North Island of New Zealand show that it has spread considerably in the quarter-century since its introduction. A previously undocumented liberation is described and some information on the habits and habitats of the frog, based on observations in the Foxton area, is presented.

Numerical and spatial components of dispersion, and the activity of pukeko (Porphyrio p. melanotus) in swamp and pasture in coastal Manawatu, New Zealand, are described. Pukeko are concentrated in few locations during the autumn population peak, but are widely scattered in spring when the population size is minimum. Flocks are consistently larger in pasture than swamp; those of up to ten birds are more frequent in swamp. And those of 25 or more birds more frequent in pasture. In pasture, pukeko distribution and density declines outwards from the edge nearest to water.