SCRAPS OF NATURAL HISTORY.

Press, Volume LXVI, Issue 13906, 3 December 1910, Page 2

SCRAPS OF NATURAL HISTORY.

9 ■ (speciallt weittex I'ot. "the tekss.') ! (Bt Caxtewjcrv). At this period of the year, the ravages oi stoats and weasels are particularly noticeable, and they wiil soon he reckoned among the worst pests of the , countryside. i'resumably, their voting and promising families "require .special • attention, like all the rest, and chickens ' make a nice light diet for them. ConI sequontly the owners ot' poultry have j now to toll of damages to the stock. i Weasels seem to be doin<; the mosf ! i harm. They prey upon mice; the i ; quest leads them al>out buildings; un- : j dernoath the floor they find snuy; quarjters; chickens «m- easily taught, and ;so on. I hear of one weasel which has , , taken up its abode in a bin; stone heap. ! from which it cannot be evicted. iJur- ; ' ing the last ie-.v weeks he or she has ! i levied toll to tlie extent of thirty-one | i frcm the neighbouring fowl yard, tusd j several sorts or traps have quite tailed I lin their object. In another place a j ■ brood of prize Orpingtons disappeared j J :it the rate of one each day until only one was left. On that day the weasel .'must have thought it best to finish the I business olf, so it returned in the alter- I ; noon tor the leiraininy chick, and was j ! seen to carry him away under a build- | ing. The spectator missed a chance: Ihe had a nun in his hand but would J not slay the evil doer, "'because they kill our rabbits down in Otago." This may, or may not have been a good ! reason; the owror of the Orpingtons, in ■ .South Canterbury, says it lias not. i • Most peoplj have seen the small ; brown lii'.;irds wliich live among the tussocks, but larger varieties arc grow- j ing scarce, and when a lady bravely ■ I captured a nine-inch specimen in a I niiki-miki bush —''I seized him with i both hands"'—we hailed it as a rarity I : and tried to de v eloi> it into a pet. It < \ was an interesting little beast, bright ; ; green in colour, witli white stripes and j I markings. An authority kindly "aye ! jus a long Latin nnine tor the intended j I pet, but mercir.illy finished by saying, j I "or green lizard." We were satisfied ! with that: the lizard was certainly i green, therefore the authority must be j correct —what more could we want, i i Fur ten days or so the lizard lived in a j I cardboard box covered by a sheet of | I glass, and growing accustomed to j , human society he soon neglected to con- i i coal himself in the heap of grass at one j ! end. Flies to the number of a dozen j ', were put into the box daily, and as they disappeared he must have devoured them. He was never actually seen to do so, but he, lapped water out of a doll's saucer, with a long; red tongue, and that was considered most clever. Then on a lucky day, from his point of view, a corner of the glass was pushed j on one side, and our lizard scrambled /up a cabbage tree, where it is supposed that ho still resides. The bird world has tragic happenings of its own; here is one. A now lifting front had been fitted to a shed, and the | sun had warped the boards, so that a j crack about an inch wide was left at the edge, between wall and front. At I one side was fixed a large staple fasten- | ing, and evidently one of those inquisitive starlings must have alighted on the staple, and put his head through the narrow chink to see if there was room inside to build a nest. The crack became narrower near the ground, and the unfortunate bird must have Slipped in some way, for we found him hanging there dead. His neck was securely fixed '. in the chink, ah<l the front bore sad > traces of the way he had battered about 1 ! in his efforts to escano. Those who say that the sparrow is of no possible iise, are perhaps riot ; I ouito correct. 1 think that these birds 'destroy great quantities of the "brown i beetles which .have done so much harm j jto the pastures. In some places fires, j are lighted at night for the purpose oi' | attracting the beetles to destruction, i and the scorched insects may be p'eked ' up by harnUful in the morning. Later I m the day it will be found, if there. j are sparrows About the place-, that I they come and clear up all they: oani i hold. I have seen them doing it. I and also engaged in searching every- j ; where for the insect pests; so even the | j much-abused but still cheerful sparrow, j I may be of some slight use.