NATURE’S WAYS

Dominion, Volume 28, Issue 28, 27 October 1934, Page 15

NATURE’S WAYS

Readers’ Observations THIS WEEK’S AWARD This week’s Mature notes again embrace a wide range of subjects. SevI eral cojresnondents failed to agree on the shape and style of a faptall’s nest, and. with the idea of settling the discussion beyond doubt, a contributor forwarded a nest to “The Dominion.” a photograph of which appears on today’s illustration page. This week’s prize of five sliilllug- liarbeen awarded t 6 “Little Peter” (Lower Hutt), for qu original observation on a bird’s domestic affairs entitled “Fighting Sparrows.” which appears in this column. “The Dominion.” invites readers to send descriptions In not more than 200 words of their observation from Nature. A prize of five shillings is given each week for tije best contribution received. Address: Nature Note, “The Dominion.” Wellington. Fighting Sparrows Man is evidently not the only living tiling upon this earth witli domestic worries. Early one morning, a day or so ago. I- observed a number of sparrows alight upon the rails bordering our lawn, and immediately engage in what appeared to be a heated argument. When the altercation was at its highest, I observed a large cock sparrow hurriedly vacate his perch in an endeavour to,escape the attentions of a small garrulous hen. He was, however, immediately pursued by her, and neatly “crashed’ in the middle of the lawn, whereupon she proceeded to administer to him a good thrashing, whether merited or not I cannot sav? The attacks were vicious and well sustained, and consisted of a vigorous pecking and hauling about the grass by the wing and tail feathers. The coek sparrow seemed too cowed to offer the least

resistance. He merely lay upon his back with hie legs well tucked in, no doubt for protection, and although the hen kent up a Scolding chatter between peeks, her lord and master remained dumb, evidently outclassed in all departments. The struggle terminated in the flight of the cock, leaving me to my reflections. — Little Peter (Lower Hirtt).

Fleas and Bees Your correspondent “Aelf” wrote recently on the flea, and gave an interesting account of it. It is a subject I have not studied, and 1 am willing to take his word as correct. But then he refers to the bee —.presumably the honey bee. Now a bee leaves a sting behind, but not when it bites, for it, stings from the other end of the body. It only stings when it is interfered with roughly. It can be handled gently, and will do no harm, and when it does, it does so only in self defence, whereas the flea is legitimately getting its sustenance and is not in the same category. I have handled thousands of bees without getting a sting, although I have occasionally accidentally hurt one and been stung as a consequence; but then one cannot blame the bee for usit.g its instinctive instrument of self-defence —Mat’ll Maxton (Greytown). How the Worm Gets Along While walking down a pathway after a steady fall of rain I was attracted by an unusually large earthworm making its way slowly and awkwardly in front of me. Its method of movement interested me very much. When the worm proceeded in any direction it fixed the front portion of its body and slowly drew up the succeeding segments or pieces. It then fixed these parts and pushed forward tlie front portion by expansion, consequently decreasing the thickness of this region. Tims the worm partly pushes and partly drags its body along. It is covered with many minute bristles, which can be felt rather than seen, and these act as pivots during its movements, any region of the»body being temporarily fixed by pressing the bristles covering that region against the earth or any object over which the worm is moving. A touch with my finger immediately caused the animal to contract. By this action the worm does not decrease its size or volume, but decreases its length, increasing its thickness correspondingly.—C. C. McVicar (Palmerston North).

Cockatoo and Magpie My attention was arrested, just two days ago. by a white object which sat on a fork of a broken pine tree by the side of a quiet country road. On closer inspection I discovered that the object was really a large white cockatoo. He looked so coyly at me, as if quite used to human beings, that I began to talk to him. On a nearby tree a very patchy magpie was rending the morning air with its rapcous voice, and when I appeared, tried at once to ckix the cockatoo away by flying round and round the tree and calling loudly. The cockatoo screeched back, and lifted his yellow poll, but was content to stay awhile. So for half an hour I tried to get him down, but even grain had no attraction for him. Evidently he had once been in a cage, and a second'term of imprisonment did not appeal to him. So I called “Hullo,” and he answered “Hullo”; then whistled to me and showed off, but my wheedling was all in vain. The magpie was getting very worried by this time, so with a final plea to his companion to copje away, flew off to a neighbouring farm. Then with a chuckle at me the cockatoo followed suit. I wonder who lost their cockatoo, and how long he will enjoy his freedom with his strange mate? —“Country ..Catherine” (Masterton). Clothes and Moths ■ The clothes moth, as it is commonly called, is to be found in all countries and climates throughout the world. ' We generally regard this insect, which enters our houses and spends the greater part of its life- in destroying our valuable furs and clothes, as a pest, but outside in its natural state it renders us valuable service. This consists in the removal of the nests of birds, from our shrubs and trees, after they are deserted by their late in • mates. ’ .

The moth lays its eggs in the nests, which hatch out into larvae.’ These feed on the hair, wool, and feathers, which are used to build the nests. By the destruction of such material, with the burrowing of air passages, and with wind and rain they soon break up and disappear. You will see how necessary these insects are when we consider how indestructible hair is. Even the fiercest storms may beat upon it year after year without effect; it may even he buried beneath the. ground for centuries of time with a like result, as has been proved by the discoveries in the ancient tombs of

ligypt ul trussts ui r.uir, which in spite of their tong burial still preserve their strength. Unless this larvae ate the hair, wool, and other matter, the branches of nearly al] our shrubs and trees must sooner or later be choked up by the iu’creasing number of nests built in ’them, for, with:very few exceptions, no bird uses an old nest for two successive seasons, and even when it does it always gives it a new lining.—Daniel Conway (Martinborough). A Spider and Her Prey Noticing a fine new spider’s wen strung across the garden fence, I decided to have a look at industrious Arachne herself. She was apparently resting from her nocturnal exertions in the shade beneath the fence rail, but one foot was placed on a strand of silk stretching free to the centre of the web below. I caught a white butterfly which happened to be hovering around a cabbage, and entangled it in the web. The struggles of the butterfly were communicated to the spider in ambush above by means of the line from the -centre of the web. After about five seconds of violent tugging on her leg. the spider slid down to the web ■and quickly clambered across to the butterfly. Though it was much Iprger than herself, the spider immediately ■ closed with the struggling butterfly, and drove her poison fangs into the victim’s neck. The poison acted almost immediately; the butterfly became motionless.

The spider then drew the butterfly’s wings, together by means of a silken envelope which she wove around her kill. Then with a wonderful show of dexterity she cut the strands holding her prey, and, suspending it from one of her legs in stich a way that it would not become entangled in the web, began the .ascent to her den, where she proceeded to enjoy a well-earned meal. In about an hour she had sucked the butterfly dry and dropped the empty corpse to the ground below, — “Le Chercheur,” Napier.