ON SUNDAY ISLAND

Evening Post, Volume CXXX, Issue 26, 30 July 1940, Page 5

ON SUNDAY ISLAND

WHERE THE FLIES GO

RATS, CATS, AND BIRDS

There is one person who has at last discovered where the flies go in the winter. That person is Mr. H. Lukins. He does not claim to have indulged in any prof ound research work in the matter; but he has spent the last ten months on Sunday Island, in the Kermadecs, as one of the party of Public Works employees who have been making Sunday Island a fit and proper spot for a meteorological'station, and that is where the flies were. Words were absolutely inadequate, he said, to describe the millions of blow-flies which were there, and against which blankets and everything else had to be constantly protected. However, he added, there were no fleas or mosquitoes, although there were millions of wild Italian bees, which, with or without provocation, would "sting like blazes." Taken all round, Sunday Island was in many respects quite a nice island on which to live—when you got used to it. The island itself, said Mr. Lukins, was really the top of a volcano. The crater was about two miles in dia- ■ meter and contained three lakes. The Blue Lake was about half a mile across and about 20 feet deep, the Green Lake measured about 800 by 400 yards and was of unknown depth, and the third lake had an area of about an acre. The island, of about 7000 acres, was very much broken and rugged with precipices and ravines. If overtaken by darkness, one just camped on the spot, for to travel by night would be suicidal. There was, however, a little flat to undulating land in the northern part of the island. There were some four miles altogether of sandy beaches, and two landing places had been made, one on the north side of the island and one on the south, so that a landing could be comparatively easily made, whatever the . direction of the wind might be. • The rainfall was about 60 inches a year, and when it rained it came down heavily. Summer temperatures ranged between 80 and 90 degrees, and the climate on the whole was decidedly pleasant and always mild. There was ■ always a certain amount of steam . • issuing from the ground in parts of the island, and, in places one could dig a hole in the sand and have a bath in the hot water whi t ch welled up. "Of course, the island,* being the top of a volcano, may take it in its head to blow up again some day," suggested Mr. Lukins som*what nonchalantly, seeing that his term of residence there has expired, "and you have frequent small earthquakes to remind you of that." VARIETY IN FRUIT TREES. Pohutukawa trees, said Mr. Lukins, grow everywhere on the island. There were also ngaios, nikaus, tree ferns 60 feet high, and much other vegetation familiar to New Zealanders. Passion fniit, bananas, oranges, cape gooseberries, and other fruit trees grew in abundance, and tomatoes grew wild all over the island. There were fig trees, too, "but the figs did not ripen. : .:. CATS AND RATS. Norwegian rats, immigrants from a wrecked ship, overran the island and had ousted the native rat. Cats, too, abounded, having originally been left on the' island by whalers. The rats played havoc with anything in the shape<>,p.f v a garden, .while! the, cats,.had so many birds to eat that they hardly troubled to catch the rats. The goats still numbered between one and two thousand, there, being as many left as there had been shot, and they played havoc with the vegetation in general. ABUNDANCE OF BHtD LIFE. in spite of the ravages of the cats and rats, the island teems with bird life, and it was this that most interested Mr. Lukins. There were thousands of tuis, he said, and many European birds such as blackbirds, linnets, and starlings. Mutton birds had riddled the island with their holes. Occasional visitors, blown there by gales, were seen, such as godwits, and there were grey duck on the lakes. Birds from the tropics occasionally appeared, too. One pukeko was seen. There were no gulls, such as are seen, in New Zealand, but it was a sight to see the thousands and thousands of nesting wideawakes. The petrels, too, were exceedingly numerous, and' there was a curious feature about the Kermadec petrel, one lot nesting In summer and the other in winter. The eggs provided free and easilyaccessible food for the rats, and the young birds provided dainty meals for bold cats and rats, and yet the bird population did not seem to be affected to any marked degree. The introduction of the woodhen, "the policeman of the bush," Mr. Lukins thought might be a good move. "Fish stories, which in New Zealand are stories," concluded Mr. Lukins, "are true on Sunday Island. You would not believe me if I told you what we caught, but off the rocks we get them up to 1801b in weight, and the rock pools teem with smaller- fish. And, for variety, you can hunt turtles." Mr. Lukins said that when sailing away from Sunday Island they passed close to several other small rocky islands, and it was remarkable1 to see the hundreds of goats which rushed to the edge of the cliffs of each to see who was going past—just like a lot of trippers at the seaside anxious to see all that was going on.