DEEP IN THE FOREST. Rambles along Nature's Highway

Auckland Star, Volume LXVII, Issue 181, 1 August 1936, Page 6 (Supplement)

DEEP IN THE FOREST.

Rambles along Nature's Highway

By E. G. TURBOTT, B.Sc.

the kaka in the tree tops.

SHORT of living in the bush, we do forest study by trips of exploration. For shy birds of the bush, the greater the length of the stay with them the better.

Within the forest we expected to find brown kakas (Nestor occidentalis), which are big parrots of the hush. Some friends of ours had once killed a kaka in this forest. Immediately, they told us, a whole flock of the curious birds had come up to investigate. Their stout bills and

claws had looked very -workmanlike, and had given our friends some anxious moments, because the kakas had seemed to" be on the lookout for revenge! However, they had been just considering the incident, and had later dispersed. We were not going to kill any parrots, knowing that they are now under protection. But we hoped that an adventure of that sort might happen to us! We had soon to leave the horses and take up our second method of approach. We neared the trees on foot, and entered the "green gloom." Everyone knows what an interwoven, sub-tropical tangle is made by the undergrowth. We pushed through this, noting from time to time the various large trees overhead. Here, in the misty rain, we were discovered by the kakas. Up towards the gully-head a - couple of

large birds flew across the space against the sky. Just at the same time one of us swung out into sight on a rata vine hanging from our kauri. He must have been seen. A few moments later we heard a harsh "ka-ka" floating down the gully.

The sound was followed by a brown kaka, flying swiftly in our direction. We saw the bright red tinder his

wings and the curve of his bill. Kaka gave one cry above us and turned away as one whose curiosity is satisfied. We, fortunately, had heard' something about their ways. They must be expected to be cautious at first. Except for this, anything unusual is immediately investigated fully. Therefore we made all the strange noises that we could, all for the kaka to investigate. He was certainly attracted. He came back with a screech, and settled away up in the tree top. He limited himself at that. Nothing we could do would bring him down lower, and he just satisfied himself about us from his heights, and went off no doubt to tell the others. For parrots, like rooks, have a language of sorts, and use it enthusiastically, besides collecting bits of other tongues in a hotch-potch.

A BOTANIST ABROAD RAMBLES IN BAVARIA.

By L. M. CRANWELL, M.A. Botanist) Auckland Museum,

IX Bavaria, as I said, there is a cheery greeting for everyone, except perhaps the Jew. In all this lovely countryside the only unkind thing I saw was one of those cruel caricatures which the Governmetit nails up at the crossroads. It is sad to think that we fought against the Bavarians. They had always been friends with the English, and even now no bitterness remains. I often felt there that I had walked into picture postcard land. Everything was charming. The flowers of our gardens —Canterbury bells, gentians, and crocuses—were their commonest wildflowers; the quaint costumes of our stage, as for example in "White Horse Inn," were their national dress. These pretty and serviceable grey-green suits have now taken the fancy of the fashionable world. The jaunty Tyrolese hat has long, been popular. It is green, with a long feather or a tuft of hair from their beloved thar.

In Bavaria few get a shot at the thar, but every tourist can buy edelweiss from a guide, who, in turn, has possibly bought it from a French nurseryman. Few risk their necks for edelweiss nowadays, but still everyone must have it, for is it not a badge of courage? To the mountainborn it is a symbol of purity —-"the white flower of a blameless life." You know, of course, that it is closely related to our two New Zealand species of Leucogenes. In all of them the woolly white "petals" are really modified bracts. Are you thrilled to know that the North Island edel-

——— '; _ 3cv wei.ss is far handsomer than its famous cousin of the European Alps? Both the Latin (Leontopodium) and the French (Pied-de-Lion) names aptly compare the flower with the foot' of a lion. The Italians simply call it their "Alpine Star." One would like to scramble over desperate precipices for it, but one do«s not need to do that in Bavaria. There it blossoms all the year round on the ivory tie-rings and the gaily embroidered braces of the men folk! Nearly all the peasants wear short leather trousers, held up with these

beautiful leather braces, white shirts, flowery ties, and short green jackets. You see far more bare knees in Bavaria than you (lo in Scotland, or even on the Tararua "tops." The men wear shoes and no socks, apart from a broad knitted band round the calf, always with the edelweiss design.. The peasant women, .too, choose picturesque flowered dresses, usually with a frill around the hips.

You will realise now how they, love their flowers. This love has perhaps come down from some dim Celtic ancestor who once fought against the Romans, but it is also fostered through the preservation of national reserves, and the establishment of very beautiful parks and educational gardens. Muenchen is a city of museums, art galleries, and gardens in which every one of its 700,000 inhabitants seems to spend a fair proportion of his waking hours.