ON KAPITI

Evening Post, Volume CIV, Issue 92, 15 October 1927, Page 17

ON KAPITI

BIRD LIFE SANCTUARY

A WILD GARDEN

WEEK-END GLIMPSE

As the season for the birds nesting has begun, Mr. Johannes C. Andersen, whoso knowledge of and • interest in New Zealand bird life and New Zealand flora is well ■■ • known,' spent a week-end on Kapiti Island, scenic reserve and bird sanctuary, to see what nests were m progress, and. how the season and flowering of the trees is showing up at this time of the year. The caretaker and his family, have the ;birds and bush under constant

observation, and quickly learn the location of all the nests within a considerable distance of .the cottage. They find that each pair of birds appears to have, a well-definedterritory, which may almost be regarded as their property, seeing that they allow no other bird of the same species to trespass on it, either for food-hunting or any other purpose. ' A pair of tomtits that are frequently seen about the. cottage have a domain of about ten acres in extent; and no other tomtits are 'seen-'within the boundaries of that domain. "At the

time I was there," said Mr. Andersen, ' tho hen was sitting on eggs, and the eoelc paid constant visits to tho cottage, where food is set out for tho various birds, aud sweetened water for such of them as live largely on nectar. The cock tomtit would usually fly to a perch on a ledge fixed just outside the window to see if his usual supply of grubs was there. If it were, he would descend and select pne, fly with it to a perch nearby, and utter his characteristic trilling song. He: would then fly a little distance, settle again, and sing a second time; -and so on, in short flights, until within some little distance of tho nest. This was evidently to let tho sitting bird know that he was coming with food, for on settling at some place not far from the nest, but never at the nest itself, he would give a certain call, when the hen would at once leave the nest, come for her food," and return to the nest again. Then the cock would away for a further supply. This is the usual routine during the nesting season, for with, the tomtit it is the hen that does all the incubating as well as the nest-building earlier in the season; but whilst she is engaged in these

two occupations the cock does all the scouting for food for her and for himself. Once the young are hatched, both birds are kept busy feeding them. TOMTITS, FANTAILS, AKD PIPITS. ■"At the time of my visit I found that the tomtit was sitting on eggs; a fantail was also laying in the same domain, and had three eggs in the nest. Close by, again, in the flat beyond the' cottage, a pair of pipits had three young ones, and the cock was flying to and. fro between the nest and the cottage during the greater part of. the day,;