NATURE NOTES

Evening Post, Volume CXXIX, Issue 35, 10 February 1940, Page 9

NATURE NOTES

THE RIFLEMAN

NEW ZEALAND'S SMALLEST

BIRD

(By R. H. D. Stidolph.)

Beyond successful attempts made to iinduce.the tomtit to build in artificial I nesting sites and the man-made retreat provided for the blue penguin iX Mahina Bay> as previously recorded iin this column, very little has been done to attract native birds to" gardens by providing them with nest boxe3 ready for occupation. As. very few of the native birds surviving in the neighbourhood of settlement utilise breeding sites bearing any resemblance to a nest box and on account of the certainty that the largsr artificial boxes would be occupied by the sparrow and the starling,.. two aggressive introduced birds, it is riot surprising that this aspect of bird'protection has received little notice. There is one bird, however, and incidentally it is New Zealand's smallest native, known as the rifleman wren, which; would probably be only too pleased ta use a nesting box so long as it fulfilled requirements. Point to this probability is given in a letter just to hand from a correspondent living at Lyall. Bay, who records that a pair of riflemen had built their nest in the grooves of weather boarding near a window frame of a washhouse at Eastbourne and, moreover, two young birds wert successfully reared in this; nest NEST HOLE LIKE A SPIDER'S. It is the writer's belief that the rifleman could be established without much difficulty in the gardens and. parks of towns. and in the countryside generally. At present it is found in the hedgerows" and parks in Taranaki, to mention one North Island locality,, and it occurs also in gardens at Waimate, in r Canterbury. If some inducement were added by providing it with nesting sites in garden, areas inhabited by it, there is no apparent reason why its numbers should not be greatly increased and its range extended. As a nesting site it prefers a hole in tree or bank and the smaller the hole the better. In fact, so small is the entrance hole to a typical nest—no more than an inch in diameter, although the nest itself is quite a bulky affair—that it is more like a spider's than a bird's. The very small entrance hole that suits the rifleman would ensure ' that this bird could not be evicted by the sparrow or the starling. Furthermore, orchardists and gardeners need have no fears about banning the riflemaa from their properties, as it eats insects exclusively and on this account it would prove a valuable ally in their never-ending warfare against insect pests. . The rifleman breeds in extra-, ordinary places at times. It has been recorded as having used the brain, cavity of a deer's skull hanging up in a farm shed. Another interesting point about the rifleman is that it is found only in New Zealand. : MOST VALUABLE BIRD. The most characteristic feature about the rifleman is that it is almost without a tail, which is only about a quarter of an inch long. The bird itself is but three inches in length from the tip of its awl-like bill to the end of its stumpy tail, No-bird in New Zealand iqioge^eher'getically: tl?an the rifleman. All its movements are carried out at express; speed. < Beyond a moment snatched now and again to preen its feathers, it is constantlysearching the trunks and branches of trees with insect food hidden in the crevices and crannies. There is no more faithful protector of plant lifa than the riffeman . and its engaging ways should ensure its popularity to a wider section of the community. la the North Island, it is not found north of Auckland, but elsewhere it is well distributed in all bush areas and ia some instances in settled districts, while in the South Island it is found more or less in most districts containing native bush. Although it is so widely distributed, it is not a bird having' strong powers of flight arid this fact, coupled with the almost complete denudation of extensive areas of farm lands of all vegetation prevent it crossing barriers of that kind. In places where there is sufficient cover ta farming districts, it has survived, especially if these haunts are adjacent to extensive forest areas or reserves. SCOPE FOR BIRD LOVERS. At the present time the rifleman is feeding fully-fledged young not long: out of the nest. Three or four eggs are laid in a clutch and contrary to what may be a general belief, in spite of the fact that the .rifleman is our smallest bird, it does not lay tha smallest egg; a distinction shared by the fantail and the grey warbler. This is understandable when it is remembered that if the warbler and the fantail had an equally stumpy tail as that possessed by the rifleman, these birds would both be smaller than the rifleman. The fact that these two birds, arboreal or aerial in habit xand both insect-eaters, are able to survive '"a gardens and the countryside generally, leaves little doubt that the rifleman, once it became well established in similar situations, would be' quits at home. It is possible, of course, .that ultimately the rifleman will be able to extend its range unassisted/ but. ii^ human help were given—and there is every reason why it should be given, because this bird ,is one of the most useful possessed by this country—-this desirable object could be accomplished much more quickly; In any case, property owners at-Eastbourne should be' well able to experiment by offering the rifleman facilities for breeding, and as this bird does not appear *> wander far from its nesting haunts, may become a permanent resident of some of the larger gardens in the most favoured localities. ; LATE NESTS. The same correspondent whose letter suggested to the writer the possibilities of attracting the rifleman, mentioned the finding of a nest of the yellow hammer on January 20. The nest was hidden in tall grass and old lupin on top of a high sandhill. It contained three eggs. Both native and introduced birds breed far later in the season than is often chought. As late as March, nests may be found of several species of native birds, while at least one introduced bird, the goldfinch, is a late breeder. Much more is heard about early breeding but little is known about late nests and investigation into this aspect ol bird life would probably bring soibe surprises. There are some birds that enjoy a particularly extensive breeding season and others that breed twice a year, in midwinter and in summer. It appears, however, that some species are to be found breeding in almost any month of the year, though that does not apply to any one district. It would be interesting to know if any readers of this column have any knowledge of late nests. Early nests of the song thrush and blackbird were recorded in the Auckland district last year in June. These two birds, seem to be the earliest of introduced birds, while among natives the warbler, fantail, and banded dotterel are all early breeders, starting in July or August.