NATURE NOTES

Evening Post, Volume CVI, Issue 46, 1 September 1928, Page 31

NATURE NOTES

ON MITRE PEAK VISIT TO TARARUA RANGE (By E. H. D. Stidolph, 8.A.0.U.) A few days spent by the writer and two friends in the vicinity of Mitre Peak, on the Tararua Range, two years ago-,did not yield a very rich harvest cither botauieally or ornithologically. At the end of the road, which ceases on the banks of the Waingawa Eiver, not far from where a precipitous gorge is entered, several pipits, or ground larks as theso birds aro familiarly known, kept our party company for several chains, flying in short laps and keeping just in front. Perhaps, at infrequent intervals, one would dart after gomo insect and quickly, consume the morsel, although sometimes the prey is carried in the mandibles for quite a time, as if the bird was contemplating what a juicy tit-bit it had secured. The penetrating call of a kingfisher drew attention to the bird itself, which, as is its custom, was sitting motionless on a naked tree bough, but at the samu time was keeping a vigilant watch on the immediate surroundings. Overhead the common diurnal bird of prey in the Dominion, the harrier hawk, sailed in varying circles as it winged its way down the river-course. Near at hand was the bush, and from its shelter came the voices of several bush dwellers. * • » « « A rather common plant on the steep banks of the Waingawa Eiver at this locality is a speciea of native broom, apparently Carmichaelia odorata. It is .a member of a very remarkable genus of over twenty species and with the exception of ono which occurs in Lord Howe Island is confined to New Zealand. The'native brooms are peculiar in habit, as nearly all the species are leafless or nearly so when mature, the green plattened or terete branchlets performing the functions of true leaves. The structure of the seed pods of the native brooms is also most exceptional. The margins of the valves and placentas aro thickened and consolidated into a frame-work, to which the seeds are attached. In dehisceuce tho faces of the valves often come away altogether from the frame-work, from which the. seeds hang perhaps for a long time. These plants belong to one of the largest of families in the plant world—the peas, clovers, broom, gorse, wistaria, laburnum, and sweet peas all being members of the ten or twelve thousand species which comprise the group, which yields to man many vegetables, fodder, resins, and. dyes. Their distribution is practically world-wide, but the paucity of representatives of this family in New Zealand is a.remarkable peculiarity of the flora; # * * * •■Before,- the bush was entered the screech of a long-tailed cuckoo was heard rather persistently, but the bird itself c6.u]d not be seen. No sooner had it .departed than the more pleasant notes of its smaller relative, the shining cuckoo, came with increasing volume, only to end in a series of sighs. Again the author was not seen. The sweet notes of the bellbird, the throaty gurgles, coughs, and sneezes of the tui, tho cheery song of the grey warbler, the jingle of the white eye, and the peep of. the tomtit were heard in quick.succession on the fringes of the bush. But as tho forest was penetrated silence reigned for the greater part of theTjonr'ney dverVthe Blue EaiigeT A silent inhabitant of-the bush by day, a niorepork, was disturbed and flew off in disgust, a noble wood pigeon disclosed its presence with a soft coo, and then took to. noisy >flight. A party of whiteheads broke the silence with their chatter, and a solitary leak a," with its screech, to which a long-tailed ■ cuckoo acted as accompanist, in rather discordant fashion. The feeble chirp of the rifleman wren was occasionally heard, and in the distance the notes of an odd tomtit and bellbird. Beech forests are not particularly favoured by many New Zealand birds, so the comparative paucity of bird-life was not surprising. A notable feature, however, as painted out by a member of the party, was the large number of young native pines in evidence through-c-1; a largo portion of the bush traversed, although maturo trees wore few and far between. On arrival at tho base of Mitre Peak where. tho river gorge opens out into some-small flats two grey ducks flew ■ off, somewhat startled, to find more secure feeding grounds, but otherwise not many birds were in evidence. • * » * An attempt to reach the summit of Mitre Park failed on account of the thick mountain mists which clothed the last five'hundred feet of the mountain, although an altitude of about 4500 feet was reached. Tho sub-alpine plants growing on this part of the Tararua Bange, however, did not offer much in the way of rarities, and were rather poorly represented when compared with the wealth of plants on Mount Holdsworth. Beyond the bush line some beautiful specimens of one of Now Zealand's most handsome mountain buttercups were in evidence, and here and there a species of cushion plant carpeted the rocky neighbourhood. An everlasting plant, Helichrysum bellidioides, was common at about 4000 ft altitude, its pretty white flowers being much in evidence. There, too, quitea number of. specimens of that peculiar orchid. Pterostylis BanTcsii, flourished in sheltered situations. Plants of one of the mountain daisies, Cclmesia spectabilis, were not very numerous One of the daphnes, Pimelia gnidia, was not at all uncommon, its compact beads of white or pale rose flowers being one of the adornments of the mountain. Another mountain shrjib in evidence about 3000 to 4000 feet altiude was Pittosporum rigidum, a plant confined to certain high country, mostly in the North. Island. • • * • Several pipits seemed to greatly enjoy their life above tho bush-line on Mitre Peak, and, curiously enough, a small flock of redpolls, an introduced bird, also were noted flying over. In the sub-alpine bush a chaffinch was heard on more than one occasion, and further down a blackbird, another alien. Native birds were not plentiful on the slopes of the mountain. An odd pigeon, kaka, and parrakeet were disturbed, and the usual small fry— whiteheads, bell-birds, tomtits, pied fantails, and riflemen wrens were in evidence. Near tho camp a long-tailed cuckoo disturbed the silence of the forest, and on the flats two black shags flew down tho river. A tui gave an exact imitation of tho notes of the bellbird and then flew off,'so highly, pleased with its efforts that it chuckled with delight.