NATIVE BIRDS

Evening Star, Issue 23270, 19 May 1939, Page 2

NATIVE BIRDS

ENCOURAGING OBSERVATIONS PIGEONS ON THE INCREASE In his report to the Acclimatisation Society Ranger M'Leod comments interestingly on the increase of bird life. During his visits to different parts of the district he had good opportunities of watching our native birds. “In the Gatlins and Waikawa districts and Waipori Gorge the native pigeons are very numerous,” he says, ‘‘ and seem to have multiplied quite a lot within the last two years. They are also to he seen in the suburbs of Dunedin. Rellbirds and tuis are very plentiful in all bush districts; pied fantails and black fantails are on the increase, and so are tomtits. Parakeets and kakas are not quite so plentiful, but in parts of Gatlins, such as the Tahakopa and Wyndhara districts, I have seen quite a number. The bush canary is to be seen in some parts of the Gatlins bush. “ The birds that haunt lagoons and estuaries, such as dotterel, stilts, and oyster catchers, are very numerous, and there are also a number of bittern and blue herons. New Zealanders who are justly proud of their splendid fishing and shooting are perhaps a little inclined to underrate the value of their birds.” An investigation showed that the seeds of 65 per cent, of the forest plants and trees, including every single timber tree except the kauri and beeches, were dispersed solely by birds. Without their presence the bush would be nonexistent. Everybody should assist in preserving our native birds by killing their natural enemies, the stoats, cats, and bush rats, as actual sickness accounts for the death of comparatively few birds.