IN A CHANGED COUNTRYSIDE

Auckland Star, Volume LXIX, Issue 142, 18 June 1938, Page 6 (Supplement)

IN A CHANGED COUNTRYSIDE

by E. G. Turbott

.• "I -ftt I.' 11 ie I! t '• / I l 11. i I' .I e-1 11.l s, uf ■i •• i ■' 11 l' . ;i in I t lie 11 re;i • " ' ■. '-.ir- 1 I i n.i I pl.t lit J ... ■ . . i .1- 11 'p.-.11 .'.I e.iin li ' 1111 ii Irl' 11 roll 11 - .if i in i\; ii re of hot h i. ii.U of \ egi-tiition. i.i'i\.. 11 ~ have passed - :. -ii 11. ■11 -i \en rs lit t ing their

i ;o o o o o a r> o CH><H><hkhchkkk !' i. - -. • . 1 111 < r-i mid have ' ■ i •' \ in overcome all ! ''■ 111.-11!• ie* w !ii.■!i have arisen. • i :• i-n I ii to live in farmlands ■ i " I'M.!- n- ... • 11: ,i initiir only renii ■ "t : 11■ ■ i■ il.l iniii: in l .' places. A !• 11 ■ 1111 i i ot them t lui* live close even in the city—kings'. - du.-il .I'.out harbours and fani.i <l.i nre to their own chattering in \!' re conservative birds need l' : . ■ "f bush as a retreat, while I ley \i-it gardens and farms only <•.-■ .i - .■ 'li.i 11 y. 'I'he till ie the chief of I'i — e and i-oiurn right into the centre of the ritv if a treat such as a flowcr;ng kmvhai tree or abundant iii-eet life is w;iiting. I-or a few native birds, of course, the great change in the country during the hu»t century was too sudden in its coming, and these birds disappeared from New Zealand altogether. Huia.s, native thrushes and ipiail are alnumt certainly extinct, n I t hough they were formerly common. It is, perhaps, just as well for some nt ns to ii.like such a census of native bird* as this from time to time, liefore I knew birds by sight very well, I found stitch-birds, native thrushes and other unlikely birds right in the garden. The descriptions seemed to fit perfectly, and I began to doubt only when I found that many years had passed since birds liko this were to be seen on the mainland. Altogether the hush hirds show a decrease since the days when the pioneers started to make farms, while open country birds like the pipit have become more numerous than before. In most cases, however, there is no question of the bush birds actually decreasing to the point of dying out. Those which, like the fantail, are at home in hedges and gardens, have established themselves strongly in a new foothold. Each retreat, too, such a* a patch of scrub or* toilet gully growjfc, k§» » popula-

linn •> f the hardy birds. Perhaps in..i.' j»lf«»sinir still is the fact that inn' Ijii-.li inhabitants, such a* miiiiw. tomtit* and wrens are in many [daces still thriving. The <'< in tinned presence of these latter is surprising in some ways. Kven in standing, bush they have had to face such new enemies as rats, weasel* and stoats from other countries. Sometimes it has seemed

impossible that birds unaccustomed to experienced enemies such as these could ever protect themselves. Still they must have learnt steadily how to keep a sharper look-out and to rely on their wings to escape. Certainly they seem to be maintaining themselves and increasing in a number of tracts of bush. Movements of native birds from high country inland to sea level are described by Guthrie-Smith: "I had left in autumn and now returning in spring found a vast difference in the life of the woods. In March a stranger to the movements of our New Zealand birds would have wondered at their numbers; in October h« would have vowed that even here

A TUI EXPLORES

in these remotest wilds native -jKM-ies had become almost extinct. . . . In March those inland woods had been full of sound and flight; in October they were noiseless and bare —'bare ruined choirs where late the •sweet birds sang.'" Tuis, kakas and bellbirds especially bad come down to the coast to enjoy the nectar harvest. There is another bird movement in winter, when food is

scarce. Birds then spread further afield and bush birds may visit towns and farms in search of new •sources of food. Something like this was no doubt responsible a fortnight ago for the coming of a tui right down to several city gardens. The forested Waitakere Ranges are the chief haunts of the tui near to Auckland. There are, however, plenty of neighbouring bush patches; in fact, tuis probably examine most clumps of trees and gardens from the ranges to the city when they are not nesting. In winter birds need to extend their food eearch in some such way as this. Buller describes the tui's food as "ripe berries of various birds, flies

and other insects, and the honey of certain wild flowers. To enable it to collect the latter the tongue i.s furnished at its termination with a brush of extreme fineness—a characteristic common to all the true honey-eaters—the nectar ascending to the tubular portion of the tongue. ... It also feeds with avidity on the sugary bract-like epadices of the kiekie. In the months of October

and November, when the kowhai, which grows so luxuriantly on the river flats, has cast its leaves and is covered with a beautiful mantle of yellow flowers, its branches are alive with tuis; and in December and January, when the Phormium tenax is in full bloom, they leave the forest and repair to the flaxfields to feaet on the korari honey. At these times large numbers are caught in snares or speared by the natives, who thus supply themselves with a delicious article of food. . . . Among introduced trees, the tui is particularly partial to the Australian blue gum and the common black wattle. When these trees are in full bloom, this bird holds high carnival among the flowers, making playful sallies into the air from time to time, and uttering its mellifluous notes, as if in the highest ecstasy." The tui which visited Auckland was seen on blue gum trees, where it was probably doing good work eating the destructive scale insects which often kill gums. Tuis which have become friendly enough to seek out food such as this in settled districts are well advanced towards becoming "at home'' in the modern countryside. Birds should even expect the help of human beings in difficult seasons; like the robin in England, they should take winter provisions as their due. The Forest and Bird Protection Society of New Zealand has for this reason established August as bird month, and in their magazine the right methods of giving birds food in winter are set down:—"Some may intend to put up suitable feeding trays, but defer the good action until the need of it has passed by. Instead, they may throw out crumbs and scraps of other food in places where cunning cats may pounce on the birds, or may steal their meal. Rats, too, will be on the alert for such provender. . . . Xow is the time to set up feedin? trays where the b!r<Ts will be able to eat without fear of their prowling enemies. ... It is really a case of one good turn bringing another, for the birds wiicre war on the hordes of insects and erubs which like to prey on man's vegetables and other crops in the spring."