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Dominion, Volume 22, Issue 81, 29 December 1928, Page 24

Having been caused some annoyance by the early morning chattering of starlings and minahs that had invaded the space between the ceilings and the roof of his house, making entry through a broken tile In the roof, a Napier resident decided to rid himself of the disturbers of his early morning sleep, and accordingly climbed up into their nesting place through a manhole (relates the ‘'Telegraph”). Once up there he received a considerable shock to discover that in addition to building their nests, the birds had brought a large pile of-straw and shavings into their place of abode, apparently through the roof, piece by piece, thus creating a considerable fire danger that had not been realised.

The greatest interest is taken, not only by deep-sea anglers, but by students of marine life, in the spawning places of swordfish, which have never been definitely determined, though the fish are found in many’ places in both hemispheres, and were referred to in the works of the earliest historians (states' the Auckland “.Star”). Sir. Zane Grey, during his visit to the Bay of Islands, noticed that in several cases, fish he caught appeared to have spawned comparatively recently, and he will'devote more time (luring his present visit to New Zealand in December, to noting facts which may help to elucidate the problem as far as New Zealand is concerned. Captain Mitchell, who is accompanying him. writes to the Publicity Department that they intend fishing through the Pacific Islands in the hope of establishing the locality of.the breeding grounds of swordfish. Mr. Grey hopes to ascertain whether in the winter period they leave New Zealand for these warmer waters, and whether in the course of the next few weeks thee.v will be moving south from the islands about Tahiti. An acre of native bush was destroyed as the result of an outbreak of fire in the scenic reserve at Thompson's Bush on Sunday afternoon (states the Southland "News"). The occurrence of the fire is another instance, which should serve as a lesson in the care which must be taken by those lighting fires in public reserves, to ensure that when they make their departure every snark has been properly extinguished.