A CORNER IN SARDINES.

Auckland Star, Volume LIX, Issue 29, 4 February 1928, Page 19

A CORNER IN SARDINES.

BANQUET FOR MUTTONBIRDS,

Visitors to Wakapatu beach last weekend witnessed a very interesting happening, says a writer in the "Southland Times," when thousands of muttonbirds drove a school of sardines into the bay and fed on them. It was impossible to estimate the number of birds; the sea was black with them and the sky also. Maoris, and fishermen of the district state that they never before saw so many birds so close in to shore. About noon some thousands of birds were settled on the water about half a mile from the shore, while a stream of birds came flying from the direction of Tewaewae Bay, and continued to come until about 3.30 in the afternoon, when the excitement reached its height. The birds had the sardines cornered at the west end of the bay near the Maori kaik. Half a dozen small islands stand oil the shore at this spot, and these broke up the school of fish, which the muttonbirds would otherwise have driven ashore. As it was, from time to time the birds would follow small shoals of fish up on the sand, where picnickers filled their baskets. Among the rocky island, where the majority of the fish attempted to take refuge, the birds appeared to reap the richest harvest. Spectators were afforded a splendid view of the fun from the shore. As the birds caught sight of a shoal, dozens would suddenly dive into the sea from a considerable height, making a great splasi, with a noise resembling a violent hailstorm. Later in the afternoon the birds settled on the water, making it black for miles out to sea. Seagulls and petrels flew about on the outskirts of the muttonbirds, picking up what they could, and when they settled down, a dozen or more shags made their appearance, all anxious to share in the feast.