BIRD LIFE.

Press, Volume LVII, Issue 17227, 18 August 1921, Page 2

BIRD LIFE.

MR EDGAR STEAD'S LECTURE.

• The seventh of a series of popular lectures was given by Mr Edgar Stead at Canterbury College last night, his subject being "Bird Life in New Zealand." Mr M. H. Godby presided, and introduced the speaker, who, he said, had made birds not only, his hobby, but his. friends.

The lecturer, in the course of his remarks, impressed his audience with the truth of the latter statement, for besides displaying an intimate knowledge of the'birds he spoke about, he treated his subject in a bright and often humorous manner, which quickly won the interest of the audience. A valuable collection of photographs was shown on the screen, many of which could only have been secured through the exercise of great care and patience, and a thoibugn knowledge of the habits of tne birds.

Mr Dtead dealt first with some of the small birds, including the fahtail, the grey warbler, and the blacubird. The lasc-named, he said, were migratory to 'a certain extent, nocks of tnem going , north .in the winter. They were now j coming back to their usual haunts. He considered the. native pigeon' was the handsomest of all New Zealand birds, and he hoped to see them introduced to. the cities, and become domiciled, in much the same,manner as the much wilder English pigeon had , become-set-tled in the parks in London. The grey duck, which was now; a familiar sight on the.river.in Christchurch, often built its nest in trees in swampy country, where it was difficult for it to find suitable nesting placeß. A slide was shown - depicting a'duck's nest in a tree at a height of 40. feet from the ground. Some good photographs were shown of ;the harrier ihawk, a ..bird -which' had few, ,friendf on account of its cruelty? towards ?its prey. Mr Stead explaihed:that a photograph Bhown of a harrier hawk rising, from its' best-among the bushes was obtained by, visiting the • spot on a very windyday, when the rattling of the flax drowned the noise :of his' apjroachl The speaker had a greater admiration for the sparrow hawk, which was being thinned out owing to the'bold method in which,it sought its prey.' These hawks had been known to chase arid follow pigeons inside dwelling houses in their efforts to effect a kill. Ho looked upon the kea as the \ most entertaining bird in the world,, apart . from its depredations among sheep. It had a. great "sense, of humour" and an extraordinary intelligence. He had known thein to pick off the pebbles covering a light wire trap,.set for the purpose.of capturing them, and to drop the trap over a precipice. . ' The habits of the black shag were, also dealt with, the lecturer giving an entertaining description of their nesting habits. These birds Used large sticks in the., outside .construction of their nests j and .the whole structure weighed between 30 and 40lbv Frequently the same nests were used by the colony season after season, being added to on each occasion' until they became so large that they, fell on the ground on account ( of their weigh V which reached as high as 1001b'. The white-breasted shags were also touched upon, and some photographs were shown of the > beautiful albatross in flight. This bird flew without much movement of its wings, said the speaker, and some intelligent person had suggested that the movement of the wings was so rapid aS to be,invisible to the eye. The truth was that the bird used its great spread of wings to volplane with and. against the wind. By. turning into the wind with its wings tilted at the right angle, the albatross could 'rise to- a great height without effort. Some close-up elides of seagulls were Bhown, showing their methods of flight, and how they applied a "brakeV with their wings, and feet, to stop them in their flight, in order to allow them to descend rapidly. In the latter part of his address, Mr Stead gave his hearers many interesting facts regarding the habits of river birds, and in conclusion he said that. there were many places about Christchurch which might "be much more thickly populated with birds, and any efforts he had made would be well repaid if they could get those birds protectedi