NATURE NOTES

Evening Post, Volume CXVI, Issue 85, 7 October 1933, Page 17

NATURE NOTES

CHANGES IN THE COUNTRYSIDE

HOW THE BIRDS HAVE FARED

(By B. H. D. Stidolpb, 8.A.Q.U.) : The more a person travels iii New Zealand and takes stock of the country; the more he is impressed -with the vast changes which have been wrought in a period of less than one hundred years and the more he is convinced that th» great decrease in the numbers of native birds is'due largely to the dei struction of forest, scrub, and swamp. No bird can live without a home and food, and in many districts miles and. miles of country have been denuded of practically every native treo or shrub. On the mountain ranges of the interior, considerable areas of forest remain, butt —scomi>are\ the- food-bearing qualities of; these areas, largely beech forest, cum« paratively deficient.in bird food, with, the now-vanished food forests of the lowlands; rich in bird food of almost every' description. The ruthless destruction of. forest that has taken placs in New Zealand is almost beyond human, comprehension. At ttie. tinie when Euro* pean colonisation began, in 1840, tha; forest" area was estimated ; at 62,4001 square miles, out of a totar area .o£ t 103,284 square miles, or about- 60 per cent. of.the country. Today it is estimated that 19,500 square miles, or 19' per cent., remains. In other words, 691, per.cent, of the forest existing in JB4oj has been destroyed, and according to: the Year Book, 1932, a considerable pro<| portion of the. area remaining in forest will. probably be deforested and made | available, for settlement. About half of i the area,.the "ear Book states, is alpine meadow land, sub-alpine scrub land, bt protective forest. At March 31, 1931, State forests totalled 7,761,166 acres, i of which 2,126,837 acres were permanent j reservations and the balance provisional, the aggregate being 11,7 pet! cent, of the superficial area of thai Dominion;

Settlement, of course, determined that vast areas had to be cleared, but no effort was made at forest demarcation, to ascertain what areas would be mora profitable iv forest than'in grass. As a result, thousands and thousands of acres, stripped of forest, have now beea founcLunsuitable for farming under pre* sent methods and have become deteriorated lands. The kauri forests alone, if conserved, were capable of pay* ing New Zealand's war debt twice over, but the policy adopted in the past has practically wiped out the stands of oiia of the finest softwoods'in the world, and considerable areas of land formerly] clothed in kauri forest are now waste. Meagre as the forest is that Temains, these remnants are further menaced by; grazing animals. The New Zealand forest is totally unfitted for grazingl animals, and in certain localities where deer and goats are present in excessive numbers they have altered the character of the forest, notably in the! Hau« rangi Mountains, near Martinborough* If this is not checked the ' forests are doomed, as natural regeneration i» largely stopped. Similarly the great majority of shelter bush areas left standing on farms are open to freej access by cattle and sheep, and in consequence tho bush is dying/ Efforts are certainly being made to chfcckthe.nunn bers of deer and goats, .but all the same, the presence of moose and wapiti in the precipitous country of the Fiord National Park, in South-west Gtago, presents a difficult problem in control and one 'about ■■ which «onsiderable; apprehension exists. These conditions aTe not; conducive to; increasing the; bird-life-of the.forests, but, on the contrary, are factors that, no doubt,- have a serious effect on the food supply. It is no wonder, under the circumstances, that decreases in certain species of native birds continue.

Of the forty-four essentially bush* dwelling species (excluding those found on outlying islands) inhabiting the mainland, all endemic species except five, two have been exterminated, six are so reduced in numbers as to be on the borderland of extinction, and twelve are absent from vast areas of country* Thus 45 per cent, of the bush birds have suffered severely, and others to a lesser degree. Nino species have adapt* ed themselves or are in process of adap< tation to settlement conditions, or iri other words, 20 per cent, of the bush species are capable of adaptation. Of the remaining mainland. - breeding specie^, totalling fifty-four, birds of the water,-swamp, shore, pasture, and rock, one of these is extinct, three almost extinct, and seven absent from.1 extensiv* areas. Another eighteen have a mor« or less restricted range. Although ai few of the latter are numerous enough, in their respective spheres, others are decidedly rare. Swamp birds -have de* creased in. numbers moTe than others. On the other hand, certain ; species, have benefited by settlement. The range- of the harrier, pipit,; and pukeko, for' instance, has been considerably extended, and the black-backed ■ gull 'and the redbilled gull have found a greatly augmented food supply in the principal ports and by the establishment of freezing worka. The breeding, species endemic to the outlying islands of New Zealand have suffered severely. Five of! the twenty-four species in this categoryj are extinct, two nearly so, three ar* scarce, and fourteen more or less abundant. Chatham Island species have fared worst, and'that is'to be expected, as that group has been brought more in contact with civilisation than! any of the others, and, moreover, collectors have been certainly responsible] for the destruction of several species ia' | this group. .

The .petrels, which have been, least affected by settlement conditions, have not shown any great diminution ia num« bers. Sixteen species are recorded ad breeding ou the mainland or on islands off the niailand coast1 Not much-infer* ■mation. is available as tp •whether breeding, colonies on the mainland have snf< fered to any great extent, although one or two undoubtedly have; In any easev no species of petrel is confined to the mainland, as all that do breed therai also breed on. islands around the coast or on the sub-Antarctic groups.

Injuries to one of his shoulders w^rs received by W. G. Nicholson; of the Para* parawnu unemployment camp, when haj fell, over a toulder yesterday .afternoon* He was brought to the-Wellington. Hospital by the Free Ainublance.