THE SEAGULLS' NURSERY.

Auckland Star, Volume 55, Issue 22, 26 January 1924, Page 26

THE SEAGULLS' NURSERY.

BY D.E-W. To the uninitiated the idea of visiting a seagull hatchery might not be suggestive of much charm- But in the opinion of a recent camping party at Ruakaka beach, near Whangarei, the experience was one that will remain a delightful memoryEarly one evening we left our camp beside the river, and crossed the low sand-hills in the direction of the ocean beach. Sea, sky and land all offered brilliant tributes to the closing day. To the left, Whangarei Heads towered rugged and purple against the primrose sky- Directly before us lay the islands of the Hen and Chickens group, softened by distance to a misty amethyst, and as far as the eye could reach, to left and right, the sapphire sea spread its glittering lovelinessAs we approached the nesting place, two sentry gulls circled and swooped threateningly towards us, shrieking their discordant warning to the sitting birds. When about two hundred yards from the open beach we topped a, sandy rise beside the hatchery. With a whirring of wings and shrill cries of alarm the colony of beautiful little herring-gulls rose like a cloud and wheeled above our heads. We gazed with admiration at the fairy-like sight of tf.e fluttering birds, but our, attention was soon diverted to the open space of sand before us, where dozens of tiny brown and grey birds were moving unsteadily about- Some of the chicks were old enough to tell that danger was threatening, and they ran aimlessly in search of cover, hampered by their abnormally long wingsThe fawn-coloured spotted eggs lay in all directions, the so-called nests being mere hollows in the sand. Every stage of the hatching process was taking place before our eyes as we stepped between the nests. There were chipped eggs' with partly-visible chicks squirming and struggling towards the light of day, and newly-hatched, half-naked birds lay motionless in the warm sand, resting after their exertionsWe picked up and inspected some of the terrified older chicks, laughing as the pale grey balls of down offered futile fight with their long slender beaks. Finally, we took pity on the hovering parent birds and, climbing a sand-hill, we sat down to watch their return. The birds at once settled among the chicks, appearing to have completely forgotten their recent anxietyWandering young ones were sought out and fed with scraps of fish, but if a strange bird, young or old, ventured near the family party, he was fiercely pecked at and driven off. The scene was a striking example of natural instinct, for to human observers the hatchery represented a bewildering confusion 'of eggs and chicks, with nothing to distinguish one nest from another, yet the parent birds unhesitatingly selected their own eggs or chicks. When we quietly moved away from the sand-hill the daylight was almost gone, and with it the vivid colouring of sea and sky. Tn a comparatively short time, Nature had swiftly transformed herself, and iv place of the brilliant hues of early evening the world seemed wrapped in a sober garment of grey. . . From the sea-birds nursery behipd us rose a soft, contented twittering.