NATURE—AND MAN

Grey River Argus, 5 March 1937, Page 5

NATURE—AND MAN

A Beautiful “Scrounger” SHINING CUCKOO ON THE DOLE. (Edited bv Leo. Fanning.) It would be very interesting to have the Hon. R. Semple’s opinion of a beautiful “scrounger,” a sturdy beo-°ar a well-grown, young shining cuckoo' which Mr B. 0. Aston watched with delight in his garden at Karon, a suburb of Wellington, during the middle of February. The bird was big enough to fend for itself, but was not. too proud to take the dole form its foster-parents, a pair of grey warblers, which had planned to bring up a family of their own, but had been deluded' into rearing a murderer. The dainty little birds, humbugged by the cuckoo vagrants, were as solicitous for the welfare of the usurper as they would have been for their own offspring. Perhaps they had even a greater zeal. Did they feel a kind of pride in the bigness and brilliance of the child that had been thrust upon them in that egg which was sneaked into their nest? Did they believe that they had been set a task which put them in a class above other waibleis? Would they feel uppish about it when they met their friendA? Of course, the young cuckoo took th e little warblers’ hard-working kindness as a matter of right, “Don t'expect me to chase after you; get busy, seek me, find me and feed me,” seemed to be the attitude of the ablebodied loafer, and the energetic foodwinners let it go at that. Once Mr Aston saw the cuekoo fly fast suddenly towards the setting sun. Evidently the warblers, screened by native bush, had been mindful of the truant. 'With their beaks full of grubs they flew after the “spoilt child.” which they may have soothed with promises of bigger and better grubs. Fantails have also been duped into the rearing of cuckoos. Mr Aston saw a fully-fledged shining cuckoo perched on an' electric-current wire. A fantail, carrying a meal of grubs, fluttered up. As it could not feed its foster-child from a position on the wire, it alighted on the big fellow’s back, and thus “delivered the goods,” Adult cuckoos migrate from the Wellington district before the middle of February. Do some remain behind to guide the youngsters to sunny lands overseas, or do the youngsters have instinct enough to find their own way to a new zone of summer?

“A GOOD PRESS” To use the expression of theatrical folk when they are pleased with the comments of newspaper critics, the battlers “for the conservation and extension of protective forests and for the cult of natural beauty in various schemes of planting have “a good Press.” Clippings received by the Forest and Bird Protection Society show that city and provincial newspapers have a national outlook in this vitally important field. This attitude was impressively noticeable in their editorial articles on the disastrous floods of the United States of America. It is very encouraging to see this strong, whole-hearted co-operation of influential journalists in the movement to safeguard the natural resources of New Zealand for this generation and posterity. IN TUNE WITH THE GREAT MOTHER. Here is a notable passage from “The Roadmender” of Michael Fairless:— “Sometimes in the country on a night in early summer you may shut the cottage door to step oiit into an immense darkness which palls ] ,ea^ n and earth. Going forward into the embrace of the great gloom, you are as a babe saddled by the ot night into helpless quiescence. Your hands grasp at a void, or shrink from the contact they cannot realise; your eves are holden; your voice would die in vonr throat did you seek to rend the veil of that impenetrable silence. “Shut in bv the intangible dark, we are brought 'up against those worlds within worlds blotted out by our concrete daily life. The working of the great microcosm at which we peer dimly through the little window of science; the wonderful, breathing earth; the pulsing, throbbing sap; tha growing fragrance shut in the calyx of to-morrow’s flower; the heart-beat of a sleeping world that we dream that we know; and around, above, and interpenetrating all, the world of dreams, of angels and of spirits. ■“lt. was this world which Jacob saw on the first night of his exile, and again when he wrestled in Peniel until the break of day. It was this world which Elisha, saw with open eyes; which Job knew when darkness fell on him; which Ezezkiel gazed into from his place among the captives; which Daniel beheld as he stood alone by the great river, the river Hiddekel. n “For the moment w e have left behind the realm of question and explanation, of power over matter and the exercise of bodily faculties; and passed into darkness alight with visions we cannot see, into silence alive with voices we eannot hear. Like helpless men we set our all on the zone t hing left us, and lift up our hearts, knowing that we are but a mere speck among a myriad worlds, yet greater than the sum of them; having our roots in the dark places of the earth, but our branches in the sweet airs of heaven.”

And yet, dear friends, this is the marvellous world which many folk thoughtlessly shut out when they pull down the blinds and turn on the droning, grunting, stuttering, hiccuping radio, hour upon, hour, day and night after day and night. They seem to have only one zest in life—the noises made by man and his instruments for ever and ever. A NEW HOPE IN WOMEN. It has been mentioned more than once in “Nature—and Man’’ that women are tending to lead, rather than ]ag, in conservation and planting movements. “'Women Lead the Way’’ is the heading of an article in a recent issue of “Nature Magazine” (America). “The women of the United States have always been leaders in conservation” it is stated. “Tn Wisconsin, women’s clubs 'and other forwardlooking groups, mobilised by Mrs Edward Laßudde, paved the way for a conservation education law that provides for the teaching of conservation in state colleges and county normal schools. Now, from Michigan, comes word that the ‘Detroit News’ will start a conservation column for women as a special weekly feature. Albert Stoll, junr., conservation editor, is

taking this step because .he realises that ‘the women of Michigan aie becoming an important influence in the conservation programme of this State “Mr Stoll said Drill the column will be written by a woman staff writer and will contain reports of conservation activities among women’s groups throughout the State. ‘Women are exertin' 1 ' a strong influence in our conservation affairs,’ he said, ‘and their interest and activities along that line are beginning to command our special attention.’ Mr Stoll’s conservation page, appearing as a regular weekly feature, was an innovation among Michigan newspapers when it was introduced some years ago.”