A PLACE FOR BIRD LOVERS

Evening Star, Issue 22685, 26 June 1937, Page 8

A PLACE FOR BIRD LOVERS

The pledge:—“ I promise to care for all wild birds, especially New Zealand native birds, to feed them in winter and to protect them at all times. I promise also to protect our native trees and bush, and at no time to assist in their damage or destruction, since they are the natural home of our native birds.”

If you wish to Join the Bird Club it is necessary to send Is in stamps or a postal note, and a bird book and badge will be sent to you. Address your letters to Big Brother 'Bill, care of ‘ Evening Star,’ Stuart street, Dunedin, C.l. Be sure to mark your envelope “ Bird Club.” THE SOUTHERN SKUA [By R. A. Falla.] Just as there are birds of prey on land, so some families of seabirds obtain their living by preying upon other species. The most rapacious of these in southern seas is the southern skua, locally known as the “ sea hen ” or ” sea hawk ” at Stewart Island and along the south coast generally. Its range elsewhere is subantarctic throughout the southern ocean, and its habits are everywhere the same. This skua is a member of the gull family, but is larger and heavier than other gulls, 1

and may be distinguished by its build, dark coiour, and the whitish bar in the wings. The prejudice against all birds oi prey has resulted in some hard things being said about the skua, and an idea prevails generally that smaller birds are benefited when skuas are destroyed. It" cannot be Emphasised too often, however, that, whether we like it or not, most species reproduce more ot their kind than the natural food supply will support, and that the sudden death of many to support another species is preferable to slow starvation of many more. In the case of the petrels, upon which skuas mainly feed, tens of thousands die annually over and above the toll taken by skuas. There is, in any case, a rigid natural check on the increase in skuas, provided by the fact that their “ savage ” disposition includes fierce jealousy among themselves, and one finds strictly only one pair in possession of an island where there may be food supply for a dozen.