Trip for Students.

Greymouth Evening Star, 19 September 1946, Page 10

Trip for Students.

Sixteen biology students from Vic-' toria University College will constitute the first delegation of New Zealand students to travel abroad since before the war. They intend to embark on a three months’ toui’ of U.S.A, and Canada towards the middle of November. The party will be under the leadership of Miss P. M. Ralph, junior lecturer in zoology at Victoria College, and will consist of five men and 11 'women. ' .•’WFS Wekas’ Intriguing Habits { The weka is now becoming a rare j bird, yet a few years ago it was common on many parts of the Canter- j bury Plains, and 60 years ago was found in great numbers there and in Westland, states a. writer in “Forest and Bird.” Wekas would swallow almost anything, including pea-rifle cartridges and tin-tacks. The only thing that beat them- was soap. The male bird does all the courting, and probably some birds after pairing off remain together for life. At a survey camp many years ago a family of three females and one male made the camp their home. They got very tame, especially the male, which, would feed out of one’s hand. It was amusing to watch the mother at-. • tempting to drive off her grown-up son. He would take shel-j ter behind his human benefactor,' who would throw scraps of food to the mother while he escaped her.