MUTTONBIRDS

Press, Volume LXX, Issue 21122, 24 March 1934, Page 14

MUTTONBIRDS

—♦—. OPENING OF SEASON | A N ATI VK IN DI'STRY I The snaUon-birding season opened I in Southland tins week, the steamer ! Tamatea sailing from Bluff for the Titi i Islands wi'h 'he first of the muttonI birders on Tuesday. As the islands are kept strictly isolated during thei ! spring and summer the prospects for ; the season will not be known for some 1 v. ecks. ' "Tile majority of the people of • Christchurch regard muttonbirds as j greasy things not worth the trouble iut preparing, so mere is not much 1 sale for them hero." a Christchurch i merchant stated yesterday. The i cmality of the birds received during j the last two or three seasons had been ; poor. he added, and that had not i helped to make them more popular. L I Multonbirds have always been very i p'jpuh'r in the south, and thousand. are soi l there every yea)'. They arc I ! caught by the Maoris of Southland,! who have exclusive rights to the is-j 1 lands. ;nid the "illy Europeans allowed ■ to share in the eateh are those who | j have married natives who have a ! ; right to visit the islands. The | maioritv el the birds are salted and j ; smoki o. but a certain oumber of fresh | j birds reach the Southland market. : Preparing for tlie Season ' P.'eparai ions, .or the miillon-birdiug | siasim '.■••■' end ovi-r .-'.'me months be--1 lore the seavon opt n.-\ As the birds ! are ores.wed m kcr';> bags, these ' have to b.- prepar"d. and favoured kcalitics «.n Ihe Southland coast are ; visited during January py "birders. The . ' broad Hat pails of the kelp are gathered and : p 111 opt n from one end to i i form bag.-. These are blown up and j tied and are dried in the sun. They I | Income fau'lv hard and brittle, so 1 have to be softened with water later. | . The aelp bag- bv.ng airtight make j ' j excellent eontainers for the bird:-, but 'they are too fragile to stand rough l ' ! handling in iran.-port, so llax kits are [ ■ made to ( nclo-.e the lower ends of the I ! bags. The upper part of the bag is i ' ' ))re(eeted with strips of tolara bark.! 1 The bag.-, kits, and bark have to be; 1 i ( adv übeii the xnsou opens, and are j 1 tianspori.-d to the islands along with ; tiie birder- ae.d their food nipplics. ; ' The method of catching the birds' I varies acco, ding to the time of the : i asou. The parent biros nest in burrows dug ai the peaty sod of the is- 1 lands, and the young birds are re-- : move,! limn these at the beginning el the sea.'.on. The burrows are shallow and can be opened above the nest by j 1 cutting a round plug out of the soil.; ■The nines are replaced and as the ; bird' u ;e the same burrows year after 1 year the robbing ol' the nests is ac-i ' comphsiied in most eases by removing i the plugs replaced during the prevaiu- ; j seamen. Bird Catching by Torchtis'hi ' Later in the season the young birds (■(,;.le i.ut of the burrow .> and have to ' be caught in the open. The work ol • catching U done by torchlight, and a! good imuiton-bi'dcr can secure as ] ' birds as lv or she can attend ! on the following d;iy. j When Ihe .daoris knew nothing of J i it. aiKiri from the salt of the sea. the i I,l>■(I. v. < ma-ted and preserved in 'll u ■ bags in their own oil. t!irds ( i:-ea;ed m this way would keep for j a long period, and were transported t ' ;n the north and exchanged for other]'' m o'.mi'.'ii; So!lie of the birds are , ',-tiU pr. rived in this way. bu! they j aie usually overcooked and do net ' ! ai■ neal lo Kuropean last'-;-. The riixk-ni i.sethod of pnparationl !-. P. pluck, split, and dress Hie birds, j •v. h ;eh are :a 11 cll in casks and smoked ■ ' before fietng placed in the bags. At i ' one time the salting vvis done in pits ' : (log in lb" around. The.-e were lined i i \ei!h the leaver, of a shrub, known in i '■the Miuth as the muttonhird tree, and] the bird-, vvro dry saPed. After be-j . i nr.; Milled and smoked they will keep j :

■ (i.;i Mgr or inort' if the kelp bai;s i remain airti lht. . 1 Tile bird , are e:;credineiy oily and | I'r y are propirly prepared fori 'the tal.de are lar from appetising Hy ■ tl: I V who kno\t, to prepare them. | I 1 he-. ;;ri. ai d. i! .1 - a 'lit delil"'.ev. ; ' The : of ea . n's bird - will ; |-.i i ,br.l I v i i-aei'. ('I". I .stelmreh diinn'.;! I-. mi i' :t h tie."'.' ari'a I on the man i- I j: nd is. e; eo\- rned to a eroat e\tent I I, v tlv v. • a! her n: 1n- .• ■ nt h. I i