IN TOUCH WITH NATURE.

Evening Post, Volume LXXVII, Issue 144, 19 June 1909, Page 13

IN TOUCH WITH NATURE.

« (By James Drummond, F.L.S., F.Z.S.).

(All Rights Reserved.) (For The Post.) BIRDS IN THE COOK ISLANDS.. (Major J. T. Large, British resident at ilangaia Island, in the Cook Group, which is tho uorth-eastem outskirt of this Dominion, has sent me a few ornithological notes on tho birds seen in that part of the- world. The "tropic bird" {Phaeton rubricanda), which ie seldom found near the mainland of New Zealan i, is a fairly frequent visitor to the islands. He describee it as a handsome bird, ■with a- rich salmon-coloured plumage on breast and abdomen. It 'is common in all the warm latitudes of the 'Pacific, and is gregarious, three or four or more being seen together, soaring gracefully along in. series of circles, the long tail feathers •streaming out behind. The "tropic bird" is commonly known to the people of tho Cook Islands as the tavaki. In the Cook Islanders' language, "v" takes th« place of "w" in the ■Maoris' language, and Major Large points out that it is rather strange that tawaki, the same word, is the Maoris' name for the cresteJ penguin. Ho says that tho "tropic bird" is sometimes washed ashore on th« beaches near the North Cape of New Zealand, and that the >laoris know it as tho amokura. In the Society Islands 't is the pirae, and in the Western Pacific it has yet another name. In heathen times, the tavaki was very plentiful in the Maurae or Hervey Islands of the Onok Group, the red tail-feathers, called "kura," being highly prized by the natives, who used them for decorated hea-1-dresses. The natives often made long voyages id their canoes to obtain the ornaments. Trouble once arose over seizing the "kura" between the original inhabitants of 'Maura© and the people o£ Aituta-ki, and the latter, who subjugated their enemies, have- been ever since that time the owners of the Horvey Islands. A.t Tupai, one of tho small members iof the Society Islands, "tropic birds'' ■are present in countless numbers. During the season they may be easily caught on their Dests, as they make no attempt to fly a.\vay. Major Large sf ates that the birds' popular name is not very appropri-' ate, as it has a wide r?nge outside of the tropics. "Macaulay Island, in the Kermadec Group, some 30deg. south of the Gl/ine," he says, "is a great breedingplaco for 'tropic birds.' In the early summer they are found there in 'largo numbers. During two trips" I made* to the Kermadecs in the Govornment steamer Hinomoa some years ago, we caughu many of^these handsome denizens of the South Saas, wlioe tameness, beauty, graceful flight and plaintive cries excito your admiration and interest to an unusual degree." The sea-hawk is another s &a bird of tho Cooks Islands. "With its outspread pinions and forked tail, it is a majestic figure as it sails along at a great height, sc3snning earth and sea below for a meal." H often robs terns and other sea birds, making them'disgorge, for its benefit, the fish they have captured. Its native name in that part of the Pacific is kotaa. The New Zealand harrier, or I kahu, is occasioniilly seen, in Mangaia, | as well as in Hie Kormadec Islands, but only during the coldest season. Major Large says that thero is no doubt that fc wings its way over a thousand miles of oce»n by a "dead reckoning" of its own. •A kingfisher, apparently identical with the Xew Zealcnd member of this groat family, Halcyon vagans, is plentiful m all parts of the Cook Group. It is known in Mangaia as tatangaeo, but vi the neighbouring island of Atu it is kotarc, which is also its New Zealand name. The grey duck, the Maoris' parera, is common in tha islands, whore it is , known aa mokc.ra. It is the only duck" found in the islands, which arc deficient in aquatic and land birds', generally. Practically the only other land bird on IMangaia lis one described as a kind of finch, called hereara.k,o. It is plain in' appearance, but is a sweet singer, and its warblings and' trills of melody are very ple3sant to listen to, and do much to enliven the silent woods, L.'ke the kingfisher, it is insectivorous and useful. It is found only on Mangaia. There are a few birds on the other islazids of the group. They are mostly enuemic, but there are two or threa which, although not plentiful, are found on most of tho islands. Amongst these are a dove, called rupe, and a small pigeon, uupa, which is seldom seen except in the inland forest glens of tho more mountainous islands. The cosmopolitan character of tho white heron is illustrated by its abundance in some of the islands of the Cook Group. It is found on Mangaia in large numbers, and the 'Maoris complimentary phrase for a distinguished visitor, "He kotuku rerenga ta hi," which means "a white heron of one flight," that is, a bird seen only at long intervals, has no application in Mangaia. Major Large adds that it is a solitary fisher, and may be seen frequently stalking along the beaches or the shoals in tho reef, or standing on a rock ready to pounce upon any little unwary fish that comes within reach. The bluo horon, which is 'believed to be rare in New Zealand now, and the whitofronted heron, are also eeen at Mangaia. The former is as plentiful as the white heron. 'A regrettable fate, apparently, awaits the land birds of the Cook Islands. The rakoa, a handsome bird, once plentiful on. Mangaia, has become extinct within comparatively recent (jimes, and t?ie aravia, which is something like the New Zealand crow, io seen or heard only at long intervals. "In fact," Major Large saj's, "owing to indiscriminate shooting and tho ravages of wild cats, the beautiful land birds of these islands will soon become only a memory of the past. Some fifty years ago, according to the late Rev., Wyatt Gill, the woods of Rarotonga an<d several other islands were vocal with the. songs of their feathered denizens. No.w the bii6h in some of these upheaved fr!\&-. mento of the earth's crust is opprees'ive with the silence that broods over it.," ■No species of owl is known to the Qbok Group, and bats are absent, except fi'or the "flying fox," which the natives gall mookirikiri, and which is confinexj. • lo Mangaia and Rarotonga. On the la?^ter island a price is placed on its head» and an attempt is made to exterminate "t on account of its ravages in. the fruit plantations. The mynah is the onty bird imported to the group. It was introduced a* an insect-destroyer, br;ij some of the residents deny it this quality. Major Large adds that in his "A/jtes xie j has named a few of the conspicwious sea birds, but many others freq went the coasts of the inlands. In Aitirt.aki, for instance, great flocks of the soc//,y petrel, which is called ngoio, may b« seen in the morning winging their way jout to sea and at sundown returning 171 the sawie order from their fishing excursions. Terns are plentiful in 'Ma^'gaia. One, the piraki, prefers "the spacious firmament on high," and anothe'4, the kakaia, spends most of its time inland, flying incessantly übout the lofty precipices and rocky chasms that bound the inner side of tho makatea, or ancient crater-rim, which extends in a circ/e, like a huge wall or bulwark, all roiu«l the iisland. "How' much fuel do 'you compute we shall need,on our motrif trip?" "Well, suppose wo say two gallons of gasoline and three gallons sf 'crotch."*