AVIARY OR FERNERYWHY NOT BOTH IN ONE?

Press, Volume LXXX, Issue 24367, 20 September 1944, Page 4

AVIARY OR FERNERYWHY NOT BOTH IN ONE?

CHRISTCHURCH DOMAINS

The proposal to establish an aviary or a fernery in Christchurch leads to the idea that both proposals might be combined. For the ideal fernery, if made large enough, could form part of a good aviary. In natural forest conditions, the ferns are walled in by trees, which stop most of the wind, protect the ferns from most of the direct sunlight, and provide both food and shelter for' the birds. To get such conditions in’a limited area of a few acres, the first step would be to enclose the area with a high wall, say 30 feet high, preferably of concrete, and too smooth on the outside to offer any: foothold for vermin. The whole area should - then be covered in' with wire netting, at the level of the top of the wall, somewhat as cherry orchards are ntetted in ; but with the supports much more widely spaced. The north wall itself will shade a large area of ground, and the adjacent netting can have some further material over it, to give just the right degree of shade for ferns. On a small scale, the old bamboo verandah blinds, spread flat on top of the netting, used to be ideal. No doubt some suitable substitute for these could be found. Years ago,-we had a small fernery of this sort, where ferns grew very'■well. Our only difficulty was that the walls were only about 12 feet high, so that the tree ferns were always trying to make their way through the “roox.” The strip of ground nearest the north wall, with a width of perhaps 50 feet, would be more suitable for growing New Zealand ferns than anything else; but some forest trees will grow in such places. In most of the enclosed area, native trees should be planted that produce nectar, and that produce berries or fruits for'the birds to eat. The widest possible selection of trees should be grown, because, in nature, birds require a succession of food trees and plants to support them throughout the • year. Part of the aviary could have spray-pipes in the “roof” for use when required to maintain rain-forest conditions. A stream of clear running water, perhaps artesian, would make it possible to provide for certain water fowl, and perhaps foi* some of the native fishes. The ideal aviary /would be as nearly selfsupporting as possible, in / providing natural foods for the birds. Nevertheless, this diet would have to be supplemented, partly to cover the period when the trees would be still too young to bear, well, and partly fo provide enough food for more than the usual number of birds in the limited area. Stocking the Aviary Given enough food and shelter, and the right conditions, the birds would not be anxious to move away. But the netting “roof” is still needed; to keep out the birds’ enemies, magpies, german owls, and so on, and the walls to keep out dogs and cats and rats, Stoats and weasels, and polecats and hedgehogs, and the pea rifles of irresponsible boys. Vermin,' cannot be trained to spare native birds; but many boys who shoot native birds probably do so because they have never come .to know the birds well enough to be interested in them, or to regard them as anything but free targets. Once they came to develop an interest in the birds, their selection of things to shoot at would be . likely to be changed a good deal. As regards stocking the aviary, the Internal Affairs Department as yet

(Specially Written for “The Press.") [By A. LUSH.)

gives no encouragement. Neverthe- . less, there is a possible way out of the difficulty. From time to time milling rights are let over some area of forest'> •. on Crown land. The trees are cut down, the birds’ food supply is lost, > * and the birds perish. They do not. just move to other forests. If they did t " the remaining forests would have been . conspicuously over-populated with birds for many years past. The writ.. er’s suggestion is. therefore, that when . r ‘. milling rights are to be let, some bird- I f' ■ lovers should be given the opportunity , f to catch as many of the birds as possible and to try to get a number of. specimens of every kind that lived in <*i the doomed forest. Those birds would be transferred to the aviary, where ' ■’ they would live almost as if on a small island, protected from their enemies, ‘ l l and assured of food and shelter. It ” is true that their new domain would <■ : be limited in area to what we can wall ■ in and enclose, and that its height ’ would be limited by the height of the walls and “roof.” Nevertheless, this would be far better for them to live in than the now devastated area that was- - once their home. I do not blame the 1 sawmillers so much as the department-' that does not allow any such birds t» be caught and moved elsewhere; but ', even Government departments have' • been known to relent, if the case is r made clear to them. The writer' is as much opposed as/ - anyone to keeping birds shut up in. I‘. small cages. In the present proposal, however, it is not the birds, but the visitors, that would have their lib*’ erty of movement restricted in the •; aviary. Visitors would have to keep y* to the paths, to give the birds a chance for undisturbed nesting. In spite of lathis restriction, in such an aviary, <•' New Zealanders might even see a livp ». kiwi. I, for one, have never seen one- ,< yet, except in a cruelly small cage, at- 01 ‘ an exhibition in Auckland, many year* s , ago. • Balance of Nature Nature spent, one supposes, some millions of years in developing the kinds of trees that are best suited to . New Zealand; and the many people who admire our native trees will -.s' agree that nature made a very good job of it. Some of these trees grow ft slowly, as all good timber trees do, everywhere. Some of the trees, ticularly the-smaller trees, grow much faster. But 85 per cent, of all these native trees depend upon native to transfer the pollen that their seeds. Destroy one kind of that is necessary to the birds, and youjpy destroy the birds. Destroy the and you destroy the forest. Some natfaMiS ive birds are preserved .oh isolatw®g| islands (though even these islands ml unfortunately, not free from cats); bqti|p the great majority of people nevem|||| have any opportunity of seeing p birds in these island reserves. A reaUjaiiE good aviary , would do something ■ wards the preservation of our nafiralijp birds. Interesting, beautiful; and •usfeSSii'ful as they are, they are disappeayimSEg all too fast from most places. tlISbWk To wall in and coyer a fairlyarea, and make a really good avigtEKill for native birds would cost moneySi|||a perhaps the price of a couple of cineriaSßil tickets for everyone in Christcffiurßtfflgi But it would provide a -native reser™|a| for ferns and shrubs, flowers, ahfllsi trees and birds, such as exists/ no«H| where else in- New Zealand. Its cdESßgi and maintenance .could provide mtoSMK esting jobs for some partly disabllc|HS| returned soldiers. ' w Are we prepared, to do anythiraraSe about it? i slße