FOLLY OF THE PAST

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XXI, Issue 212, 21 August 1931, Page 10

FOLLY OF THE PAST

NIGHTINGALES v. BELLBIRDS.

“Lector”: “I see there has been an attempt to acclimatise the nightingale in Auckland. Do you know how far it hast been successful?” “Auctor”: “It has been reported in the papers for two years in succession now that the nightingale has beta beard in Auckland. Bui what 1 canuot understand is why they should attempt to acclimat’.se the nightingale at al) in New Zealand. You see, the attempt has been made before and failed The nightingale is a migratory bird which migrates between Southern Europe (including South-East. England) and Africa also Persia and Arabia.”

“Lector”: “But ] thought it was purely an English bird!” “Auctor”: “Oh. no, it’s not It is more cosmopolitan than that not that that in any way detracts from its merits. Wh:n passes my comprehension is why attempts should be made to acclimatise such a bird in New Zealand when we hare even finer songsters here in two of our native birds—the bellbird and the tui The bellbird is the finest songster, bar none, in the world, and the tui, its imitator, is the next.”

“Lector”: “Yes, they certainly are glorious singers.” “Auctor”: “Have you ever heard the bellbirds chant?” “Lector”: “No” “Auctor”: “Then you hare missed one of Nature’s finest, and, in these days, rarest experiences. I fortunately can say that I have been so privileged. It was on the Milford Track in the Arthur Canyon, close to Milford Sound. It was a pouring wet day which quickly soaker] you to the skin, but who minded that when the bellbirds were there in plenty to cheer us on our way! Their bell-like notes sounded repeatedly through the forest; now we would hear one, close at hand, as a soloist, now others in full chorus. It was something to remember all one’s days. But the rartree which spread across the track there were as many as six bellbirds

| singing in it, almost in unison to- | gether, while others again were joinF ing in close by. We stood and listenh. ed spellbound to this wonderful choir 1 of the wilderness, so mellifluous in its cadences, so full-throated and clear in deep, rich, liquid, and trilling notes —a chant that was worthy of Paradiso itself. It was a pure delight, a chorus of choruses which only the bellbirds can sing.” “Lector”: “I envy you.” “Auctor” ; “So well you may. Bevelling in the hellbirds’ song throughout the 20 miles or more of bush along the track, I had yet another experience of which I must tell you. Going down the Clinton Canyon on the return journey by myself I came upon a bellbird feeding upon the berries of a small tree, shoulder-high and within an arm’s length of me, singing in between whiles well nigh as if his little throat would burst in his sheer joy of life and his wonderful surroundings. He saw me quite clearly. Now and again he nipped another berry, and, looking at me full in the face, sang his song deliriously, going up and down the full register of his sweetest notes Graceful in form, his beautiful green plumage showing out in the finest lustre, he was a poem in himself, the gladdest expression of Nature’s heart.” “Lector”: “Again I envy you.” “Auctor”: “And so I hope will other New Zealanders. That is why

I tell the story. Yon see, if instead of worrying about nightingales, we worried more about our own native bellbirds the experiences which J have told you of might well be the daily experience of all New Zealanders even round about our towns, today. The bellbird, when the early settlers arrived here, was common to all New Zealand, but, thanks to the destruction of the bird itself and of the native bush wherein it found its food supply, the bellbird is a rarity in many parts of New Zealand to day. and seldom is one heard near any of the la.-ger centres of population So much is this the case that now they are even talking of acclimatising’ the bellbirds in the Waitakere Ranges, near Auckland! Could anything condemn more poignantlv our folly in the past? But nothing will be done to remedy the position until New Zealanders as a whole bestir themselves in the interests of the native birds.”