NATURE STUDY.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVIII, 18 October 1924, Page 15

NATURE STUDY.

NOTES AND COMMENTS. ("Hori.”) Starlings have a penchant for building their nests down wash-house chimneys, as has been proved several times locally. The writer has on two different occasions been called in bv neighbours and friends to remove the nests of these birds, which build well down the chimney, and are also very quick at making them, as in each ease there was only about a fortnight’s interval between the last washing day, when the fire was burning under the copper, and the time that the starlings had caused a complete blockage in the chimney. So tightly were the nests wedged in that they could not. be pulled up, and to push them down made confusion worse confounded. So resort was made to burning them out. Kerooeiie was poured down the chimney and a lighted match dropped on to the nest proved effective.' In another case a neighbour reported that 3he had had to have the copper taken out before the accumulation of straw and other matter could be removed.

Notwithstanding the bad reputation established of creating a nuisance to townspeople at nesting time, the starling, is recognised as a valuable friend to the farmer in the country by' destroying thousands of the destructive glass grubs. At ploughing time large flocks may sometimes be seen foil owing the plough and devouring the inserts, which do so much harm to' the pastures in the summer time. The small bird nuisance, no doubt, is responsible for a good deal of loss to farmers', especially where crops are grown, but then again we are told that without the small birds worse evils, notably caterpillars, would have to-be combated.

Touching on the small bird question brings to notice a- matter that has exercised the minds of students of nature a good deal. That is the almost total disappearance of the English skylark, which used to be heard so often delightfully singing away up in the sky, at times almost out of sight, but all the tirrie pouring worth its melodious song, and finally dropping to earth like a stone. The cause of its disappearance has been attributed by some to the fact that it has mated with the native ground lark, arid the union of. the two species has meant a change that has resulted in a balance in f/ivour of the native lark. If this be not the cause it its puzzling to know why we hardly ever- hear the English birds nowadays.

The rhododendrons iri King Edward Park have been attracting a- good deal of attention of late. There are some very nice blooms growing there. Where space is available for cultivating these beautiful flow’ers tiiey make a great show. Mr Percy Thomson; of Stratford, makes a specialty of rhododendrons, and has a very iarge' collection) which attract' many visitors during the blooming period. It must have been a great sight for the .party that made the partial 8306114 of Mt. Everest to view the many different kinds gmtirig wild in their native habitat.

Another tree that was a great attraction in King Edward Park on the occasion of the writer’s last visit Was the Exochordia Grandiflora, or pearl bush. It is a beautiful white shrub, and was, a- mass of bloom.

The Botanic Gardens in "Wellington and Dunedin, especially at this time of the yerir, afford great pleasure to visitors, and this is the time to see the roclt gardens at their best. Describing a visit to the Dunedin gardens recently, a writer in the Otago Daily Times says: The rock garden along the foot of the hill above the stream is now approaching its best, and in about a fortnight should be offering the finest - display it can produce in all the cycle of the year. The lovely little flowers that contribute' their share to the display are many of them known by name to specialists only,, but others less rare, are not less beautiful. The wood ' anemones are there, and catmint, perennial candytuft, primulas and auriculas, saxifrage in great variety, freesias, aubfetia’s, grape hyacinth, dwarf rhododendrons, dwarf thrift, arid literally scores of others. There is the quaint dainty “hoop petticoat” daffodil, yellow alyssium conspicuous to be seen, the tritillaria with its white bell and celmisia flowering strongly. The plants in the newly-made part are coming away well, and soon it will riot be easy to distinguish the new' rock ' garden from the old. A little stream of water first pumped out. of the creek by a hydraulic ram adds variety and enables moraine conditions to be reproduced at one interesting spot. A local resident reports a somewhat strange, incident that happened to a thrush that built its nest in a climbing rose bush on his fence. The thrush had laid one egg when a blackbird, with a piratical turn of mind, commandeered the nest, ousted the rightful owner, and laid tliree eggs therein. "Unfortunately someone interfered with the eggs so that the blackbird-.was not allowed to remain in possession of its stolen nest for long, and further observation was also denied the resident of watching the result of the mixed brood that would in all probability have hatched out. A Press Association" telegram on Monday last recorded the fact that the Agricultural Department had received conclusive evidence that the kea, a native mountain parrot of the South Island, attacks sheep. It has been generally understood that these birds have done" a great deal of damage to sheep farmers whose land is situated near the mountain ' ranges. The telegram mentioned that a settler in the Marlborough district had seen one of the birds tearing at the back of a sheep on the ground, and the other had a mouthful of fat, the sheep having just, been killed. How- this evil practice on the part of these birds of the parrot family started has been a puzzle. It has been suggested that in the first place the birds commenced to dig for insects in. a v'ool-like moss, but a more feasible theory is that the birds developed ji taste for flesh through being encouraged by scraps of meat, and sheepskins left about. They settle on a sheep’s back, dig with their hooked beaks through the wool deep into the animal’s flesh. This goes on until vital organs are exposed, which causes the sheep to die in misery.

"Weasels appear to be developing in numbers in the country districts of Hawke’s Bay, and there have been mam' instances recently of extensive loss as a result of their depredations. Most of the damage, of course, is concentrated on the fow’l run and the chicken house.

It was satisfactory to read a paragraph iii the Star last Saturday stating that a councillor at the Hawera County Council meeting had been informed by Mr Murphy, caretaker of the Dawson Falls Mountain House, that he had failed to see anj’- goats on the mountain when out on an extensive search last year. Evidently the information that was brought before the Egmont . National Park Board that goats were becoming a pest on the mountain by eating the tender vegetation and the ferns has been somewhat exaggerated. There is no doubt that if they become numerous. they can do an immense amount of harm. Since the above was written the question came before the ■ Egmont County Council last Tuesday, several councillors declaring that, the goat trouble was no myth, and that though they may not be in evidence, on the south side of the mountain they were firmly established on the northern territory. . There is a proposal on foot to establish at Island Bay, Wellington, a marine laboratory and aquarium. Professor H. B. Kirk, professor of biology at Victoria College, has the matter in hand, and active steps are being taken to carry out the proposal. When completed, it will form one of the attractions of Wellington.- The cost will probably be- about £SOOO. It, is held by Professor Kirk that Island Bay marine life is more extravagant than in almost any other part of New Zealand, and the site . chosen by the Wellington City Council lias been approved by many authorities. There is no question that the establishment of an aquarium such as is proposed will be a great acquisition to the city. The writer remembers several visits he made to the Melbourne aquarium a number of years ago, from which he derived a great deal of pleasure each time lie went. One could view many denizens of the deep in the large glass tanks living in their natural state. .Fishes there were from all parts of the world, and even in one tank could be seen a huge conger eel. The children of Wellington will derive much interesting amusement from this resort if it reaches fruition. A correspondent writes to the Wellington Post: ‘‘lt is a surprise to receive through the post office a parcel which a rat. had interfered with, and feasted on the sweet contents, of a strong strawboard box, well covered. A rodent had very ueatly bored a hole and helped himself. We don’t usually associate rats with our postal matter, but here is an instance, showing that they do ‘get there.’ The parcel came by the Auckland express,-showing that there was one passenger at least that not only did not pay train fare, but put the receiver off that piece of birtlulpy cake. , The "'parcel was delivered, with the message, ‘Damaged by rats.’ ”

This story (says the Auckland Star) is vouched for by a party whose word is irreproachable. It happened at the zoo. A lady with one of those poodles that is a joy to its owner and an object of contempt, to t-lic public at large, was examining, the lions’ pit. The dog, which she was holding in her arms, became restive arid in .freeing luriiself jumped in the wrong direction. He landed in the lions’ den. No doubt he was petrified with fright. A lioness came up, sniffed him, and turned away; but he was less fortunate when he came under the notice of one of the lions. The king of beasts gave the little dog a. pat, which fortunately killed him at once, and proceeded to inake a meal off him.

Much discussion as to the family it belonged to arose over the strange seabird discovered a few days ago on Napier beach. It was at first thought that the feathered visitor belonged to the albatross tribe, but the appearance of the bird hardly warranted such a classification. After the turning up of many books and the subjecting of the cause of the controversy to a close scrutiny, it was discovered that the bird was a nelly (Ossifraga gigantia), probably a stray visitor from the Antartic. After the bird had been kept in captivity for several hours to enable it, to be identified, it was taken to Westshore and released there, as, being unable to lift itself off the ground by wing power alone, it was necessary to -place it on the water.

Pukekos. which are protected birds, appear to be increasing rapidly in the swamns in the vicinity of Napier. They may frequently be seen in great numbers from the trains passing the lowlying areas near Waitangi and Awatoto, while they are no strangers in suburban sections along the Riverbend road and even closer to town.

THE TUATAEA, LIZARD. UNIQUE AMONG REPTILES. (By Colin C. Norris in the Auckland Star.) Seeing in the papers recently that it has been reported by lighthouse keepers that the tuatara appears to be increasing in numbers, again makes me wonder why someone ha& never taken up the study of this very interesting reptile, reputed to be the only living representative nowadays of the old prehistoric times, and found only on some of the outlying islands of New Zealand, although there is ample evidence that at one, time it also lived in large numbers on the mainland, and not so very long ago. There is no evidence of the cause of-itg extinction on the-main-land, but probably the wild pigs had something to do w r ith it, as they are known to be very fond of the tuatara when they get the chance of eating them, and even on islands wliefe the pig has taken possession no tuataras are found. Nearly thirty years ago for some time 3 made a study of this curious reptile, part of the time in conjunction u'ith Dr. Thilenius, who W’as sent, out from Strasbourg Museum for this purpose, and at one time had over three- hundred of them in my pens under observation. Unfortunately, I had to break off my observations to follow 7 up my calling, which w r as at that period. the sea, and gradual!}' drifted away from the subject, and, unfortunately, most of the notes I made wdiile I lia’d them under close observation have become lost or mislaid as the years rolled by, but a few' that I still have may prove interesting. I would like to see someone w'ith the time, energy and necessary knowledge for the subject, take the matter up, and eventually inform us all that is to be known about this very wonderful reptile. One of the most remarkable things about the tuatara is its third, or socalled pineal, eye in the centre of the "forehead. This, is wonderfully well developed, and in the embryo, especially, is very prominent and distinct. As the tuatara grows, the cavity gradually closes up, leaving a place that can just be felt in the middle of the forehead, and the eye closed up inside, I referred to this third eve as

“tlic so-called pineal eye” because, by studying it carefully, its development is proved to have nothing whatever to do with the pineal gland, but to be the survivor of an original pair of “parietal eyes’’ from which the sight has gone. The tuatara lays its eggs in November, generally selecting a warm slope in the open. It opens a small trench (seldom straight, for some reason), and frequently close up to a jutting rock (probably on account of the moisture contained in it), and into this trench are laid ten fairly large eggs for the size of the reptile, covered with a rather thick shell. The incubation from the laying c-f the eggs until they hatch occupies about 12 to 13 months. My tuataras in captivity are very fond of a bath, and thoroughly enjoy themselves throwing the water about with their mouths; and yet it is a very curious thing, the island that they were taken from is practically a barren rock, with no fresh water, and there is* no evidence that the tuataras ever go near the water. It is wonderful what a little food it takes to satisfy the tuatara, and the very great length of time they can go entirely without food. I once kept one in a box for nine months without food as an experiment (he might have caught a stray fly or two), and up to that time lie appeared well and lively, and, as far as I could see, in his normal state of health. From observations that I made on Karewa Island, where I frequently camped right among the tuataras, and on Rua Malia, in the Aldermen Group, it seemed to me that when- the mutton and other young birds were just hatched, the lizards simply gorged on the young birds while the going was good, and got into splendid condition, which, with a stray insect now and then, .carried them on to the next season for young birds. There is no difficulty in distinguishing the sexes of the tuatara; the female is smaller, appears flatter aiid broader about the abdomen, and only lias a very small crest and back spine, while the male is largely has a fine crest and spine down his back, and appears to stand higher and not so flat as the female. I have heard it stated that the tuatara rind mutton bird share the same burrow, and live- happily together. I do not believe this: I have watched both of them scratching their own burrows, and frequently when I have frightened a tuatara, and he has been unable evidently to get to his proper burrow and has taken refuge in that of a mutton bird, there lias been a row between them at 1 once, .if a. bird was at home, especially if it had young ones in its charge. I think the reason that they have been frequently found in the same burrows as the birds' 1 ' is that they have simply taken refuge there. When I have dug them out in the daytime (they generally stay in their burrows rind come out at night), I have never found them in the same burrows with the birds, living as a happy /family, as I have seen stated on some authorities.