IN TOUCH WITH NATURE.

Evening Post, Volume LXXIX, Issue 71, 26 March 1910, Page 13

IN TOUCH WITH NATURE.

i(By James Drummond. F.L.S., F.Z:S.) (All Rights Reserved.) (For The Post.) THE KIWI AND ITS HABITS. | Mr. A. Hansen, who has been a light-house-keeper in New Zealand for many years, and was stationed &t the Puysegur Point lighthouse for fouryeais some thirty odd years a*po, sends a short account of bird life in the far south which will make many bird-lovers wish that his experiences could have been theire. "Many kinds of native birds were plentiful in those days," hw says. "In the proper seasons the forests were alive with birds. Pigeons were present in their hundreds, feeding on the berries of tbe fuchsia and the miro, and also, sometimes, on the berries of the panax arboreum. Kakas fed on the flowers of the flax and the rata. The red and the yellow fronted parrakeets winged thftir noisy way over the treetops, and their nests could %c found in many a hollow tree and stump. With help of a good dog, kakapos and kiwis could be found in nearly all parts of the forests. Tuis, bell-birds, yellow-heads, blue - wattled crows, saddle - backs, thrushes, moreporks, black and pied fantails, robins, tomtits, wrens, and many other birds were plentiful." Mr. Hansen found most interest in the kiwis and the kakapos. Nearly all the time ho was stationed at Puysegur he had one or more of these birds in captivity. He found the kiwi a troublesome pet, on account of the difficulty of finding food for it. The diet consisted exclusively of worms and insects, although he found email, bullet-shaped float*, which grow on some species of seaweeds, drifted on the sea beaches, in their crops. Ho discovered that a kiwi consumed in one night as many worms as could be packed into a preserved meat tin with a capacity of two poundfe. Apparently it could have eaten more if more had been offered, but it generally lived on less, and, indeed, had Attached to Mr. Hanson's house there was a yard about one chain long and half a chain wide, covered with grass and surrounded by a close-board fence. He used this as a run for his kiwis and kakapos. He placed a tin of worms and grubs in the centre of the yard, and then watched the proceedings. The kiwi usually followed along the fenco at a steady trot, with its bill close to t-ho ground, while it ■ searched for an opening by which it might escape. Presently it would stop, raise its bill in the air, make a peculiar whistling noise, and then begin zig-zag-ging tip the wind until it reached the tin. It would then gobble down the grubs and wojms at a great rate. Mr. Hansen believes, with other observers of the kiwi's habits, notably the late Professor T. J. Parker, of Dunedin, that kiwis are guided almost entirely by the sense of smell. As they course over th© ground, he says, there may be heard the sibilant sound made by the air passing through the small nostrils at the tip of ■Hie bill. He claims that he has repeatedly proved that, the kiwi's sight is defective. He did this by lying down in the birds' path, or placing ooards up on edge in their way. When he did this they ran straight up against the obstacle. At the same time tihey leaped into the air and then sheered off in another direction, or made another but* at the obstacle. His experience shows that they are stupid and intractable pete, and can never be properly tamed. Ab to the differences between the sexes, he Bays that the female is much larger than the male, and has a much longer bill. Generally, a - good many white feathers are found on the breast and belly, and sometimes on other parts of the body of the male. Ho believes that the male hatches the eggs. As soon as the chick is out of the shell, however, the mother bird takes charge of it, and it follows its mother about until it is a comparatively large size. As soon as dusk sets in the kiwi comes out of its shelter, the most favoured situation, apparently, being a hollow log. The nest, however, is often in a hole in a mossy bank. The hole is sometimes artificially made, and is seldom more than one foot deep. It usually happens that all the feathers are either pulled off or worn off the belly of the male while it it sitting on the egg. When Mr. Hansen has put his hand in a hole to pull a kiwi out be has sustained severe and painful scratches from the claws, and has found some difficulty in healing these wounds. When defending itself the bird lifts one leg up close to the body and strikes or kicks with a good deal of force, making at the same time a hissing sound. The extraordinary size of the kiwi's egg, compared with the bird's body, has excited surprise in all parts of the world. In regard to its weight, the average of 11 eggs found by Mr. Hansen was lljoz. One egg laid in captivity weighed only lOoz, and was misshapen, probably on account of some rough handling the bird had received when it was carried through the bush. The "roaroa," which is locally known as "the fireman," as far as Mr. Hansen knows, is not found on the eastern side of Preservation Inlet, but he has been told that if might be caught occasionally at the foot of the inlet and on the Blopes of Treble Mount, on the western side of the inlet. He describes the kiwi's cry as a clear, ringing thrill, ad if "kiwi-wi-wi-wi" was repeated so quickly that it formed a continuous roll. He waß quite close to a bird on the sea beach when it made the cry. Some idea of the numbers of ■the kiwis in that district, some years ago, at least, is shown by Mr. Hansen's statement, that he caught as many as nineteen in one day between Kisbee Bay and tho Puysegur lighthouse.