NATURE NOTES

Evening Post, Volume CV, Issue 6, 9 January 1928, Page 14

NATURE NOTES

SHORE BIRDS THE WRY-BILLED PLOVER (By E. H. D. Stidolph, K.A.0.U.) A very remarkable bird, the wrybilled plover, an exclusive possession of New Zealand, is hardly ever reported by bird observers in these days. It is to be hoped that this lack of information does not mean that the bird is vanishing, like many other forms of wild life the world over. Very likely the bird is still present in. localities suitable to its habits, but ia overlooked by casual observers. Tho wry-billed plover, known scientifically as Anarhynclnis frontalis, occurs in both islands of New Zealand, but is said to breed •jnly in the South Island. It is cineroua grey above, and white, with a black bund on the breast, below. The forehead is white, and the quills brown with white shafts. The bill is most remarkable. It is long and slender and curved to the right. The late Mr. T. 11. Potts, an ardent naturalist of the past, in writing of tho peculiar bill of this plover, said: "The horny point of the bill of this bird, from its peculiar form, is suiliciently strong to bo used for thrusting between and under stones and pebbles. The flexibility of the upper mandiblo derived from the long grooves and flattened form (extending to nearly half its length') tends materially to assist the bird in fitting its curved bill close to a stone, and thus aids it in searching or fossicking around or beneath tho shingle for its food, while at the same time the closed mandibles would form a tube through which water and insects could bo drawn up, as water is sucked up by a syringe. As the plc.\urc of the bill is lateral, the bird is enabled to follow up retreating insects by making the circuit of a water-worn stone with far greater ease than if it had been furnished with the straight beak of the plover, or the long flexible scoort of the avocet." Mr. Potts, who practically lived in the bird's haunts, goes on to state that the singular form of bill, so far from being an accidental deformity, is a beautiful provision of Nature, which confers on a plover-like bird the advantage of being able to secure a share of its food from sources whence it would be otherwise unattainable. The wry-billed plover breeds on the river beds of Canterbury. The eggs are laid on the bare ground, usually in a slight depression amongst tho pebbles of a river bed. In colour they are greenish grey, minutely speckled all over with dark brown. * » » ♦ Vet another species of plover has apparently become very rare. At one time the sand plover (Thinornis novnezealandiac) was commonly met with on sandy bays from Auckland southwards, but it is now never or seldom seen. Again Mr.- T. H. Potts supplies information of the bird's habits, as presentday bird-lovers are denied an opportunity of studying this nearly extirpated species. Mr. Potts visited <i small group of rocky islets known as the Sisters, situated to the north-by-west of the main Chatham Island. "One of these wave-beaten islets, rising to about 150 feet above the sea, and having an area of only about five acres," stated Mr. Potts, "affords a nesting place to the sand plover. This very exposed and sheltered site is shared only by the hugo albatross and tho nelly, which there rest awhile from almost ceaseless wanderings over the surrounding' ocean. Exposed to gales that sweep over a vast unbroken cxpanso of sen and break against this little speck of rock, the only screen that may shelter tho sand plover is the tussock of wiry grass or saw-edged sarex, for no tree is found ihero to furnish a kindly shelter." Thu eggs, three in number, are placed in a slight nest on tho ground. They are very variable in colour, cream or bull', with small dark spots and lines. The sand plover was reported as breeding in the south and passing the winter in the North Island. It is an unmistakable species, having the forehead, cheeks, throat, and a ring round the nape black. Otherwise the plumage is greyish brown above and white below. The bill is orange with a black tip. # * -:;• ;:■ Two species of stilts are found in New Zealand, one clad in black and white attire and known as tho pied species (llimanlopus leucocophalus), the other in black, and consequently named Ihc black stilt (Himantopus mclas). These birds aro at once recognisable by their long slender legs—at once suggestive of stilts—aand their long bills. The pied stilt also occurs in Australia, the Molucca Islands, New Guinea, and neighbouring islands, but tho black species is an exclusive possession of New Zealand. A certain migration appears to bo undertaken by the stilt in New Zealand, but its movements have not been satisfactorily determined. The pied species appears to have benefited by settlement: of the country and has appeared in recent years at least in one district which was formerly forest clad. Tho black stilt, however, is seldom heard of, but probably still exists in many parts of the country. Their food consists largely of aquatic or semi-aquatic insects and small molluscs. The habits of the pied bird have been dealt with fully in this column on a previous occasion. . * * * * On the Auckland, Antipodes, Snares, and Chatham Islands exists a peculiar bird known as the snipe or semi-wood-cock. It is very tame, and flies badly and only for a short distance. It is stated, however, that it attempts, on rising, the same zig-zag dashes which makes its European namesakes so hard to shoot. Very little is known of the habits of this bird, which shows slight differences on the Chathams and (Snares Islands. The egg of the Chatham Islands bird is said to bo pinkish buff, with reddish brown spots, closer at the thick end of the egg. A specimen of tho Australian snipe (Gallinago hardwickii) was shot near Auckland in March, IS9B, but this is the only occasion on record of its occurrence in New Zealand.