NATURE’S WAYS

Dominion, Volume 28, Issue 34, 3 November 1934, Page 15

NATURE’S WAYS

Readers’ Observations THIS WEEK’S AWARD The remarkable instance of a sensing acting as a lure for fish, described in the observation, “A Pilot Fish,” published on Thursday, wins this week’s award of 5/-. “The Dominion” invites readers to send descriptions in not more than 200 words of their observation from Nature. zV prize of five shillings is given each week for the best contribution received. Address: Nature Note. “The Dominion.'’ Wellington. A Killer Whale •Surging in an even race around the mighty curve of Oterongo Bay there came into vjew one day not long ago three whales, advancing with a speed which told of their immense power. The outermost was a “killer.” obviously seeking a victim; the two nearer the shore, in dangerously shallow water, apparently chose flic lesser evil of stranding than the certain death awaiting them off-shore. The chase continued around the Terawlnti coast, mnd was finally lost to view past Ohau Point. The killer was biding its time! What ultimately happened one can only conjecture. Was it that somewhere along the coast lay a sufficient depth of water to allow this terror of the ocean to eJose with its quarry, or did the darkness of the coming night enable the pursued to make their escape?— Tlori Fiiruhi (Brooklyn). An Ant-Eating Insect It was a lovely spring morning and I was sitting out on the hillside admiring the view when ,a very unusual, grey, hairy spider-like insect ran up my trouser leg. I brushed it off. but the persjstept little tiring returned again and again. At last its attention was- .distracted by a group of ants. Trailing a silvery thread

it hurried round in ever-narrowing circles till they were most efficiently corralled. As each ant, attempting to .escape, became entangled in the sticky web lying on the ground, the clever little insect caught and ate it. This went on till all had been devoured. — Nature Lover (A\ eilington). When Do Bees Sting? While thanking Mark .Maxton (Greytown) for his correction of my mistake when referring tq the bee iu a recent Nature Note, I would like him to explain why a honey-bee will chase a person and sting when they have not been iuterfereu with. I was watching a honey-bee working in a flower once. My hands were in my pockets and I never touched tile bee or got in its way, yet it came out of the Hower and stung me on the ear. Why? Country bees must be more polite than town ones! — Aelf (Wellington). Warbler and Cuckoo The grey warbler, or to give it its Maori name, Riri-riro, in its finely-woven, almost transparent nest made ot hair, with a few other materials which may be handy, such as moss, soft small feathers or a little wool, lays four round •White eggs which have a few reddish brown spots. It is iu the nest of the grey warbler that the shining cuckoo • and the lougtailed cuckoo drop their single egg. To the warbler is left both the hatching and rearing of the young cuckoo. The business of rearing the cuckoo must be arduous for so small a bird, but apparently it is never shirked. . The cuckoos are migrants from the I’acific Islands aud arc supposed to reach New Zealand about the end of September and roam the Dominion until some time in April. The shining cuckoo evidently does not always migrate, as around ,my home at almost any time of the year its sweet cadences are to be heard. It is a great musician and is to be heard sometimes even in the night; and always at dawn 'in the summer months. The long-tailed cuckoo does not venture so near human habitation, but is often to be seen in the gorges and bush. The shining cuckoo is able to throw its voice and is often in quite a different place from where the sound appears to come. The Maori name for the shining cuckoo is Pipiwharauroa and that of the longtailed cuckoo, Koheperoa.— “Hesperides (Waverley).