IN TOUCH WITH NATURE.

Evening Post, Volume LXXIX, Issue 83, 9 April 1910, Page 13

IN TOUCH WITH NATURE.

(By Jamei Drummond, F.L.S.. F.Z.S.) (All Righti Reserved.) (Foi- The Post.) NOTES ON NATURAL HISTORY IN NEW ZEALAND. Mr. Oregor M'Gregor, of Wanganui, knew the huia in the early days of settlement, when this bird was fairly plentiful in parts of the Rimutaka, Tararua and Runhino Ranges, and was found, in fact, over the whole of the country drained by the Mnnawatu, Rangitikci, ami Hnutapu Rivers. He has seen dozen it lima* on occasions when he made his wav through, tho forests. He state* that they como rcadijy when their whistle i« imitated by a human being. They have a very acute sense of hearing, and will come from a distance of ovpr a hundred yards. They do rot usually fly down, but lun or hop along the ground, usually coming down the open elope of the hill. He has never •eon huias singly. They have always been in pain. They are tnared, but always on tho ground, and never on a tree. They are moro in evidence on foggy or wet days. In the summer time they go high up the ranges; in the winter the «now on the mountain-tops drives them down to lower altitudes. There is usually a great deal of rimu, matai and birch Umber in their forest haunts. Many large rimu trees fall to the ground and decay, and offer homes to huhu grubs, for which the huias have a marked weakness. At one lime, Mr. M'Gregor adds, huias were very plentiful near Taihape. He feels strongly that determined efforts should be made to catch come for liberation on tho bird sanctuaries. TJie female lays up to three, four, or five eim* in a reason, fonr being qnito common, and he is convinced that the birds would thrive well on the sanctuaries, where they would be protected from all natural enemies, including man, the most relentless of all. The white-eyes, apparently, made their appearance on the Chatham Isnnds about the same time as they came fromt \u>tralia lo New Zealand. Mr. A. Shand, who hu& lived on the ulandr for fifty-five years, states that he saw these Birds for the first time about a year after his arrival. They were strangers to the Chatham Inlands Maori?, who were greatly interested in the new arrivals. Tho ilauhuu prisoners from Poverty Bay who were placed in custody on the inlands in 1868, caught largo numbers of white-eyes for food. The favourite method waa by the u?e of eel-baskets. The*© baskets are made with a very nnrtow opening, urunged half-way down tho length of the basket, tho reed* yloping up from one end. to the entrance. Th« birds, Jike the eels, entered tho baskets lo get the bait, but could not find the end of the entrance again, and were captured. If the weka becomes extinct, it will leave behind it a namo i'or impudence which will livo for ever. Perhaps it is an exaggerated form of egotism that leads this bird to believe that its presence is acceptable at all limes and in all placeb. It knows nothing of the law against trespass, and it boldly ignores all unwritten regulations in regard to ill-timed visits. Tho Cambridge Sanatorium, which has been erected close to an Extensive piece of native fpiest, is often visited by this little larrikin, especiully at night, when opportunities are supplied for stealthy movements and cunning raids. Patients ar^ sometimes surprised by a nightly visit, and outside in llio yard near the kitchen there are often evidences in the early morning that wekas have been growling about looltiug for things which attract their quaint fancies. One night a few years ago, an exceptionally bold member of the genus entered the building, and walked calmly upstairs j into the matron's room. Its movements ! attracted attention, and when the light was suddenly turned on it turned round with a dignified air, and departed, its feet pattering on the stairs as it went down and left tho building by the way it had entered. "I have been greatly interested in Mr. O'Regan's letters about tho native birds of Weslland," writes Mr. Murray Campbell, of Antigua-street, Christchurch, "and as I lived for two years in the farthest south of Westland, Cascade River, Cascade Point, probably the most inaccessible part of New Zealand, I should be oble to write about tho birds, 'ihe \v<ka, the kakapo and the kiwi nre quite plentiful there, as are aho the native pigeon and tho kakaj but even in that remote pa»-t I have seen stoats, although they are very rare at present. Regarding the grayling, they como up from the Cascade in great bhoals for the greater part of the year. Each shoal seemed to be atmont uniform in regard to the sizes of fisti ; one day they would be all about «n inches long, at another time only three to four inches." Describing tlu> numbers of kaicas which formerly frequented the foief-ts in the (Jvey district, on the \Vest Coast, Mr. A. If. Clark, of Waihi, states that forty-five or liny years ago. when he readied the summit of a ridge of a dear place, he had only to sturt calling lo attract some of the birds, and after he had snot one, they would flock round him in surprising numbers. After, perhaps, lulf an hourV slaughter, they Mould all suddenly fly away and disappear. Occasionally, they would roI main near him for onl> a few minutes. In any case, if there were any kukas at all in the locality, he was always sure of a good bog. '.there was a large miro tree which titood out by itself in a clearing, close to his mining camp. On several occasions when his supply of ammunition was exhausted, he climbed to the topmost branches, and, by means of & slender pole, with a running noose at the end, was able to snare many birds after the method jn use by ihe Maoris. At the Builer River at Christmas time, when the 'takas were very fat and tender, he roaster 1 them on a *pit in front of v busn nre. Ho Bay 6 that at that time of the year lhc> were more tasty than the wood-pigeon, and made the best dish ne ever tasted. Although he had shot many kakas in the Auckland province, no lias never found them as fat as the West Coaut kakas in the old days. Mr. Clark, without much trouble, taught a young ono to talk. He kept it in a cage, covered with a dark cloth. He did not allow any of his mates to speak to it ; and in the evening, and at times during the day, he sat in front of the cage for an hour at a time and repeated the same word or sentence again and again, until the bird mastered it. Another lesson was then begun. At the conclusion of earh lesson, the pupil wa» rewarded with sugar, which all knkns lelish. While Mr. C'lnrk r.ud his mate* were camped on the bank of a <rpek m the forest, a native lobin. with only one leg, suddenly made its appearance. For four months it wac a constant attendant at the camp, and never went far away from the tent. It would nol allow any other robin to come near the camp. It often followed the miners down to the claim wheie they carried on their sluicing operations. "We never know what happenesl to our companion," Mr. Clam adds, "but one day, to our deep regret, he mysteriously disappeared from the scene. Ho was a very faithful little fellow, and in those da£o ii menni a great, deal to us to. have

a living creature moving about the tent when we returned home in the evening, and to see him hopping around and hear him chirping in the eavly hours of the morning. 1