BIRD SANCTUARY.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 133, 28 February 1908, Page 10

BIRD SANCTUARY.

A VISIT TO KAPITI. THE WHOLE ISLAND SHOULD" BE . SECURED. It is good for a man to have a;hobby,, and v/hon that hobby is of somo practical good so his fellow-men it'is better. MrjJ.-Drum-mond, chief reporter of, , tho .'lLyttelton 'limes," has always boen'enamour.cdiofi'tlie study of New 'Zealand??; feathered, tribes, and it is his pleasure to spend his holidays in- communion wi'th r his 1 ; beloved"'birds. Sq : it happened that*last week lie .took, passage by the steamer Queen gf the South, which' 1 alter groping along the coast through the mirk of uusii liro smoke, landed him on iiapifci Island,. tho Government bird sa'nctu- ; ary, wlioro lie. had an interesting exporieuce among the .winged twitterers which the Government aro fathering- and mothering in the hope of saving them from extinction. Mr. Drummond says that.-there aro not so many species of birds on the Inland as ono would expect, but, .those,.that'- are established there all seem to bo doing-very well indeed. Among the birds that 1 are'considered rare were the ■whiteheads, 1 or NewZealand canaries—the last specimen of which l3uller, m the supplement to his "Book of Birds, says he shot. That, writer: said that' a long time ago, but to-day .there were hun-, dreds ,of whiteheads'oil''Kapiti, arid if you stand still for a time in tho bush, .thoy can bo heard twittering to- one. another about the absurdity of being considered extinct. New Zealand robins'-were - also there in numbers—Mr. Drummond said he must have seen fully a hundred, yet Buller depicts his (the robin's) last homo in his otherwise very valuable book.' They aro very inquisi;H ve birds and-quite tame, and 1 instead of .flying off when thoy hear one approach, they come nearer to find out what is going on.

Native pigeons—the finest plumaged bird of them all—were also numerous. "I saw no kiwis there at all," said Mr. Drummond. '•■ "Though .getting scarce inthe north, there aro plenty : still in oxisterico' in ■Western, Otago,' and ; an effort should bo mado to placo some on : tho Island. Kiwis must get scarce as the. bush disappears, and the bush fires are a great 'eause of mortality. There are a few wekas, some kakas, but no i<t 01I ght to .bo represented. 11 B ? w - 10 'flightless■ ducksfrom Auckland Islands that were liberated by Dr. Cockayne a little while ago, and they appeared to be doing well in' the swampy lands on the Islands. The panakeets, were alsothriving ui 'their new- home. Californian quail were numerous' on the Island, though becoming scarce ok the • mainland. There is an abundance of'feed for the birds, as all the native berries—particularly, tho karaka—flourish on the Island. There is one' place near the caretaker's liouso where all the birds on the Island seemed to gather daily—a little gully rich in berry-laden karakas, and watered by a tiiriy stream of limpid water. Here they ato their fill, and laved their, plumage in the running water, well content."

Mr. Drummond says that there are about 1300 acres of Maori land oil the Island cleared and grassed, on which sheep,are run, and which tho Natives; decline to,sell.to.the Government. This ; was a .great pity; ; because of the continual risk' the sanctuary ran from fire during dry summers. Tho grass , was: burning when '"-lie arrived last week, and -the wholo of the Native land was swept while he was there, the fire only halting at tho Government boundary, whero the bush began. It was a marvel how it stopped there, for tho undergrowth was very dry, and had it obtained a good 'hold it might easily have destroyed tho whole of the ü bush, and with it the valuable colony of birds that are being preserved. Tho' bush is much the same as that of tho mainland, with tho important difference that the undergrowth is much lighter! Tho Island had an affliction in: the: form of-wild goats, 1 which overran the wholo placo. While their tracks made the place vory accessible, and tho kids mado good eating, it was pretty certain, that thoy destroyed much of tho. young vegetation. An organised "shoot" oil a big scale might reduce tho number.