IN TOUCH WITH NATURE.

Evening Post, Volume LXXIX, Issue 113, 14 May 1910, Page 13

IN TOUCH WITH NATURE.

BIRDS ON THE LIGHTHOUSES. (By James Drummond, P.L.S., P.Z.S.) (All Eights Keserved.) (For The Post.) Small petrels, commonly called "dove petrels," because they resemble doves in size and plumage, are the most numerous inhabitants of the Brothers Islands in Cook Strait.. Mr. J. H. Farquharson has evidently found much pleasure in studying the habits of these birds. He states that often, on the first approach of dawn, they leave their nests on the lighthouse island and do not return until dai-kness has set in. They usually breed from the middle of November to the end of January. In the latter month the chick has been sufficiently developed to leave the liole in which it was hatched, and to venture out into the world. From the time it is hatched until it reaches maturity it is left, entirely to its own resources during the day-time. The female spends most of the day dbtaining food for herself and her young. When she comes home she ejects ths food in a seminiasticated state from her mouth, and it is quickly assimilated by the hungry youngster. On 1 the Brothers, as on islands near the coast of Auckland, petrels and tuataras seem to be on the best of terms. There are still a few tuataras on the rock on which the lighthouse stands, and Mr. Farquharam has found when digging up a petrel's nest, that bird and reptile have lived together in the same hole. He points out that this is somewhat strange 1 * in view of the fact that the tuaiara likes to spend the winter months in, a quiet retreat, and that at that time of the year the jpetrels are very noisy. They quarrel over the ownership of the holes, and if the night is dark and still the whole island seems to vibrate with the noise they make. The light at the lighthouse hae a • great attraction for the petrels, especially on rainy nights. A continual tattoo is made by their contact with the heavy -plate glass on the tower window. Some of them receive very heavy blows. Mr. Farquharson has frequently climbed to the upper balcony, expecting to find an unfortunate petrel with a broken nyk. The hardy character of these birds is &hown by the fact that he has never found one placed hors de combat. The fighting instinct is very strong in their breasts. Sometimes, when confused by the bright light, they are captured. Ap soon as two - captive rivals are placed within touch of each other, all thoughts of personal safety vanish, and the instinctive fear of man is forgotten in the strenuous encounter , which takes place. It is only during their working hours that they tolerate the members of their own species. They are hard workers and busy workers, and. apparently cannot find time to quarrel except at their leisure. Considerable numbers meet death by their persistent attempts to worm themselves into remote and confined spaces in their burrows. Light-houre-keepers sometimes -dig them put of spaces into which it seems to be impowible that they could squeeze their bodies. In some cases stones and other obstructions ha-ve to be removed before the birds are set free. The graceful terns are some of the most welcome visitors to the Brothers. They arrive in large numbers about the end of October, to attend to their domestic duties on the sunny slopes of the rock. They are regular "frequenters of Cook Strait, but It is only at mating time that they visit the Brothers. Immediately after arrival they settle on their favourite nesting-places, and lay their eggs; each, female usually laying two, although it is seldom that more than one chick is hatched. When two are hatched, one is almost sure to be lost before reaching maturity. Indeed, it is not unusual for both to fall into the water from the precipitous site selected for the nest, and quite twenty per cent, of the young terns are lost through falling into the water. The island has no beach, and as the little birds cannot climb back to safety tiiey are drowned, but not before strenuous attempts are made by the parent birds to save them. Even if they escape the terrors of the cliffs, they are likely to fall victims to piratical hawks, .vhich, in spite of the old 'birds' forlorn defence, settle down on the rookeries and attack the birds, each hawk taking six or more at one meal. The affrighted terns show astonishing quickness in. distinguishing hawlts from albatrosses, mollymawks, nellies, and other birds that pats close to the- rookery. No objection is made to the presence of those birds, but as soon as a hawk appears it is recognised as a common enemy. Its presence is resented by the whole of the rookery, but always quite ineffectually. The terns are also annoyed by the red-billed, red-leggfied mackerel gulls, which steal food from the young terns, and sometimes also from the old ones. The gulls take up their residence close to the tern l'ookery, and wait for a male tern to return with food in the f-hape of small fish for the female and the chick. The fish are caught in tie .«ea near the island, and sometimes the gull tiies to intercept the tern before it reaches the nest. The usual plan, however, is to wait until the fish has been deposited with the young tern, which often finds that the fish is too large to swallow. Whilo it is struggling to get tho fish down, the gull appears, and, before the chick has realised what has happened, the fish is snatched out of its mouth, and the gull has flown off with its booty. The tern's life at the Brothers, it will be seen, is not altogether a happy one. At mating time, at any rate, the tern has many anxieties. The exciting incidents in the life of an average tern show that these sea-birds must be very hardy. A young tern, for instance, has been seen to drop over the cliff and fall sixty or seventy feet on to a rocky ledge below, without apparently suffering any injury, although the shock was sufficiently severe to cause it to eject Tood from its mouth. Mr. Farquharson often has to pass through the rookeries. His presence compels the parent birds to leave their chicks and rise in the ar. The young, fearing danger, scurry away from the allotted spaces^ — which can hardly be called nests — and go towards the edge of the precipice. This reckless action brings the parents down to the ground, where they stand on the allotments and try to entice the young ones back. While they are doing this, three or more terns run np imd dowft on the outer edge of the cliff, like policemen, driving and pushing back the youngsters from the dangerous place. When the policemen terns have lo deal with an exceptionally stubborn little bird, they go up to it and cry out in the shrill notes resembling "Get back, get back!" If the warning is still disregarded, the dagger-like bills are brought into use, with marked effect, until the chicks have retreated to a safe di.stnnce from the edge.

You can Eavo youvself all the clangor of coughs and colds this winter by keeping a bottle of Baxter's Lung Preserver by you to take- at the first sign of a chill. This remedy quickly expels the cold from tho sj-gtem, and strengthens the tissues of the throat and chest. Be wise; it's voiih Is a drop. The Is lOd bottle is tho moist, economical. — Advt.