MATURE AND MAN

Gisborne Times, Volume LXXX, Issue 12201, 13 March 1934, Page 2

MATURE AND MAN

GAME-BIRDS AND THEIR enemies.

NEED OF MOKE SANCTUARIES.

(Edited by Geo Fanning.)

' It was mentioned :in a previous “Nature—and Alan” article that lovers of shot-gun sport in the N<»rth Auckland district' "'ere impetuously accusing the weka of ‘raid-, jng pheasants’ nests. Poor weka! Tiliii* bird seems to be blamed lor ; the offences. of various enemies of •game-birds. The Ta.test charge against the weka in the Northland is that it is a menace to wild duck:*. How can snob an allegation stand against the facts of natural history ? For thousands! '.of yeairs the weka and native ducks lived in the same .territory, and: both species flourished until man came with his death-deal-ing practices. It mmtfc be borne in mind, too. that in the remote pa St the abundance of natural cover would have been very. favourable for any egg-stealing habits of the weka, but the (lucks thrived.

HORDES OF RATS AND OATS. Recent reports from the Northland indicate that wek»s are scarce in the bu.'ih there, but rats and cats —which prey heavily on hi'rd-lifc — are very numerous. Persons who Travel in motor-cars and launches are blamed for a wide distribution of cats in the North Auckland district. They evidently believe that a humane wav to rid themselves of unwanted cats is to take them toT a long ride, and set them free in lonely places where they become pests. How is tlie conservation of game and other lords to make progress against such folly ? SAFETY ZONES. . One of the northern sportsmen, with more wisdom than some of his. brethren showed, declared rightlj that the welfare of game-birds required more sanctuaries. In that view he is in line with the hes.t authorities, of North America, where the vital importance of sanctuaries i s at last being properly recognised.

Another matter which should concern sportsmen very seriously is the enormous killing of birds on theopening day of the shooting season. The first day of May is a sad death for many thousands of ducks. r J here i s a general desire among shootfsta to “get in early.” They plan for ‘‘big bags” on that day, and the resultant slaughter is stupendous. It would he better for sport.. in the long run. if only half of an acclimatisation district was opened for shooting on May 1 and the other half a week late’* HAPHAZARD CONTROL Proper control of wild life in New Zealand remains an ideal of which the realisation is still beyond Hie horizon. At the H.S.A. Game VonTerence last year a delegate remarked that, until iihe country Did enough trained manpower in harness to put wild-life conservation on a par . with forestry and agriculture, proareas would be distressingly slow. He urged that more me should be trained immediately. Here is an editorial comment of “American Game” (official magazine of the American Game Association) on that delegate’s statement: “Technical forces must be put on a hi ghee ilanc .than the political auction block. Tbev will be if the public demand-, it. We need mere trained manpower, and we need to give scientific workers a .chance to work out the problems in hand without interruption.”

AN ADVERTISING THRUSH. Walking on a garden path at my home the other day I nearly stepped -on a thrush which was busily whacking a shell-back on a stone. The bi'rd calmly hopped a few feet with the titbit, and resumed the hanging. Its fearless pose reminded me ct" n -saying of Captain Sanderson’s: “There are no wild birds. Tbev are not wild hv nature. Man makes them wild by his persecution.-” That thrush gave mo a confident look which I interpreted thus: “Gaze at me. Am I not your friend? Say s onicthirig ni.ee a'Jmt une.” That bird and its many associates have practically wiped out the shell-baex clan in mv- garden. THE SINGING PREMIERSHIP. . Many s-pecics of birds s;ng only during the mating arid nesting season, but some have a much longer Period of melody exercises. The thrush is a notable performer. In and about Wellington this bird may be heard in winter, spring, party summer and autumn. T have seldom heard it» .song in midsummer, blit perhaps other observers may be more fortunate. However, in this devotion to music the thrush would not surpass the lui, which T have heard in all seasons. KEEN HEARING OF BIRDS. “You wouldn’t think worms could Innate.*, a, noise that the birds can hear,” ’writes a correspondent who has observed birds—especially the. thrush —patrolling lawns. “They walk About!,” the writer states', “lean their heads- to one side as R listening, and then plunge .their beaks in the grass and pull out fat worms.” Some ornithologists -say. that the birds' do not dash at the food until they see it.. I am not an ornithologist, but i!t is my firm belief, based on many observations, that thrushes listen for the rustling of the worm* near the surface of turf, ‘io a layman certainly the whole pose of the bird, is one of keen listening. •‘BACK TO THE WILDS.” “‘Back to the.land’ is the soundest of all political cries,” remarks Mr. 11. Guthrie-,Smith in his preface of a charming book, “Mutton Birds and Other Birds.’ “‘Back to the wilds’ is whait will firing. to each who makes the trial, the happiness fibat

brings no later regrets, from which all troubles will be forgotten, ana which, unlike any other portion of our liives, will leave the mcmo'ry only of its pleasures behind. Assuredly in this twentieth century wo are attempting an over-civilisation, and man have almost come to believe that to walk all day in streets or to sit at ledger and desk is the natural ’ lot. He who so thinks ha.s lived hut half his life—ho ban tailed to enjoy the savage latent In himself. lx i« hearing and sight—those, most ancient senses in the frame fif man, that give in their exercise the fullest joy, and to listen and watch are, more than-to think. “But what dm we see ■•arid what do Wo hear, and what through our eyes and ears do we not owe to the masters of verse? It has become impossible in prose -to witness a great sea rolling into a shallow hay, to think of woods la.'thod with rain, of wind among the dunes, of grey and dewy turf whose greener markings show where wild things have trod at dawn, of sudden airs that dim the shadows of a . water expans'-* and shiver in silver along its blue, of noon in summer when green tendrils flag. The breezes stream and the seas flow, hut they hear a new meaning and a new melody, something the savage has never known. Perhaps only in this are we moderns Ibo happier breed of men; that Hie poets are as- Eolian harps through which our primitive / senses pass. To each, phase of nature, sweet or severe are added apt images, tender thoughts am.l sequences of immortal wo'rds. Awa v from our fellow-men and, alone, what can we see or hear or fee] that is lovely and pure and of good report, without a flow of thoughts that are not our, own ?