NATURE AND MAN

Gisborne Times, Volume LXXIII, Issue 12075, 14 October 1933, Page 12

NATURE AND MAN

TWO VIEWS OF THE FOREST

OLD TIMES—AND NEW

(Edited by Leo Fanning.)

This week T read a very inter©Being review, written some „ • ago. by Dr J. G. Myers and Mr Lomond Atkinson on old-time tne ™, of the native forest-friends tfmt enabled the trees to flourish in tiful health until man, the might, enemy, swept into sylvan scenes The friends were birds, of course, which worked in a wonderful co-ojxm ation. The greatest mind on thte earth could not have evolved as goon a plan for the preservation and propagation of trees. Those melodious- honey-eaters—the tui and the bellbird— helped to pollinate certain trees. No wonder they are sweet singers! They turn xhe nectar into liquid note.s which no human voice nor instrument can imitate. Those birds and others carried far and (wide the seed of berries so that the. forests could extend their green frontiers. ’On the forest floor many birds, small and large, fossicked incessantly for insects, their eggs and fheir larvae. Other search parties peered and probed for meals in the bark of trees. Others .were ever busy among twigs and leaves. Others took insects on the wing. Each species had its own way of winning a living, and each method .was good for the forestAlas! How different is the state of affairs to-dav! What a long series of disastrous blunders, muddles and accidents the' past century has seen ! The mischief did not begin with the first Maori settlers. They Lad a deep veneration — even a superstitious fear of the forest, which they treated with the utmost'respect and proper religious- rites. At certain nines of iho year they took birds tnr toed, but this was done very carefully, in accordance with strict. decrees of chiefs.

Fnhapnily that old order ha* gone. Many of the Maoris, if thev have the opportunity, will not hesitate to kill pigeons and kakas. and will even feast on inis. The fapu, which once regulated their conduct, has gone, and they give no heed to the pakeha law, if they feel that they can break it safely.

British colonisation brought much stupid destruction of forests on steep rugged country which could not promise a. suitable surface for pasture except in the vision of a half-wit or not-wit. 'Then came germs of disease which spread from introduced birds to the native birds. Other aliens—cats, dogs, rats and weasels— preyed heavily on the ground-feeding birds of the woods, and .some o.f these animals c-ould climb trees for- the robbing Of"nests. Pigs and deer seriously disturbed the floor in large areas of forest- Goats, deer and opossums ravaged the undergrowth and attacked the trees themselves—and thus the tale of havoc has gone on. However, the -worse the position is, the more must the real friends of the forests and birds strive to safeguard the survivors. “FALCONRY” OF FANTAIL-S. Many writers on New Zealand birds have referred to the friendly visits of fantails to Rouses in search of flies inside. “We have even an authentic record of a tantail which was regularly let in at the front door of a dwellinghouse and suffered to depart, when it had cleared from the premises its daily catch of "flies,” tvrote Dr Myers. What- an improvement on messy fly-papers and clumsy swatters! That remark of Dr Myers almost raises a hope that, by patience and perseverance, many thousands of the Dominion’s homes may have their own fantails, as official Tty-catchers. That shrewdness of The fantail in discerning that the habitations of man are often good hunting-places is pleasantly mentioned by Air Edgar Stead in his “Life History ol New Zealand Birds.” “While they often take small insects .from a wall,” he writes,

“they do not as a rule catch houseflies unless these are in flight. 1 have often ‘flushed’ house-flies from curtains or wails for a fantail that would sit on some convenient perch —a lamp-shade or a. picture-frame—-and dart at them immediately they took flight. Miniature golf and table tennis having something of- a vogue 10-clay, I am tempted to suggest this as a pastime in a country where genuine falconry is non-existent, for it is wonderful how quickly these nlrds .will realise they are being helped in this way, and make use of assistance. As winter approaches, and smaller foods get scarcer, fantails will readily take house-flies, aud even large moths and blue-bottle, capturing their prey and flying to a perch with it in their bill. There they take i>in one foot, and. holding it, against the perch, peck it to pieces and i.cvour it .When fantails are in houses. mirror.s. have a great attraction for them, and they flutter up and down against the glass, fighting their shadow with the greatest fury, emitting shrill squeaks the while. For perhaps ten seconds they will do this, and then fly to some nearby perch for a spell, returning to the attack as .soon as they have regained their breath. They will sometimes continue this procedure for ten minutes or more, interspersing their fighting with an occasional flight after food, as if to sustain them for further eifforts."

BIRDS IN A GARDEN This spring, for the first time, I have seen a white-eye sipping nectar ijrom. the fragrant ping bloom of a flowering-currant in- my garden. Once nearly a dozen were flitting prettily among the flowers. It is a new find which they like heartily—so much so that The treasure-trove is delaying the departure of some of them to Their nesting haunts far away. At tho time of writing (the morning of September 25) T gazed for a few moments at tho brighthuod shrub, and suro enough several silver-eyed searchers were there. By the clock they should havo been off with their mates last week, but evi-

dently " 1 Krr the example ot tnq impressed by, them so bees, but why This is th 9 Jong to follow * - of t bat curi "‘I STn'prevTous ?cars the littl, l iltbooS. they keenly e l the bwh for Insects, grub, -amt “ “t? did not touch the flowers. Birds «»nally are < '*. their habits, but some of them com fainly do some experimenting he quest of food. Near that cm* rant is a ****** capsicastrum, 4 shrub which bears a wealth of beau, tiful round berries, like immature smooth-skinned oranges m Morin and, 'colour! Nothing could: look more ap, petising, and yet not one bird pecx, od at them—until this year. Each 01 ■=ix autumns brought that alluring crop but always it was by birds. Yet this year, blackbirds .and thrushes made onsets. rhey, darted at the berries and flowed them whole. Evidently bad been .some experimenting somew, arc, and a new source of food came into the world of these birds..