IN TOUCH WITH NATURE

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXX, Issue 14977, 24 April 1909, Page 6

IN TOUCH WITH NATURE

NOTES ON NATURAL HISTORY IN NEW ZEALAND. (By JAMES DRUMMOND, F.L.S.. F.Z.S.) Mr A. Williams, of Weber, Hawke's Bay,- states that a -mountain named Oparao, in his district, was once famous on account of the number of huias that were found there. A rab-bit-linesman whom ho knew used to conceal himself in a shrubby bush and call them. He waved a ' short' stick backward and forward until a huia. hopped on to it, and then he caught the bird with a snare at the end of tho stick, but always let it go again, Mr G. Peck, a settler at Waioue, found, a huia's nest, with four eggs in it, in the district. The nest was in a rotten maitai tree, about fifteen feet from the ground, and the eggs had been laid in the rotten dust. Mr* Wilson' says that some years ago, when he was bushfelling at Mangatuna, six miles from the main road, he never went out to meet tho coach without seeing two or three huias, but nearly all the huias in | tho district were shot during tho year 'of the Royal Visit. One bushman shot so that ho became known as "Huia Jack." v Writing from Clearwater, Rockhampton, Queensland, Mr J. W. Auton says:—"When...l was reading 'ln Touch with Nature' some timo ago I saw a. statement that tho silver-eye migrated from Australia to' New Zealand. I have travelled over a large part of northern- New South Wales and over the southern and central districts of Queensland, and only on one occasion, in March, 1902, have I seen a flock of silver-eyes. It was on. the banks of the Fitz'roy River.- There is a little bird, which comes here every winter, and which reminds me of the Now Zealand fantail. It has" the same markings on the head, and tho same habit of flitting about in the early morning and evening in pursuit of insects. Its cheery ' twit, twit' as it flies about often reminds me of the bush country in Taranaki. It arrives hero about May 14, and departs early in August." " In the spring of every year, generally within • a week or two of the same time," writes Mr E. T. Frost, of Waimauku, " enormous numbers of eefe ascend the Waikato River from the sea. About the middle of September, when the whitebait are generally running freely, they start to come, and so thickly do they swarm up both banks of tho river that tho whitebait fishers find it almost impossible to put tho net in for whitebait without gotting more eels than anything else. The eels are so email that they can easily find their way through tho ordinary mosquito netting, which tho whitebait nets are made of, and a fisher, when ho finds that he has a mixture in tho net, holds it in the air for a few minutes till the eels struggle through and leave the whitebait. I have seen tho shoals so long that they would be two days in passing one point. They swim at the rate of about ten miles a day against the current. That would mean twenty miles of eels on each side of the river. This occurs two or <tliree times each spring, with odd small shoals in between. This gives an idea of the enormous quantity thero must be. So thick have I seen them gathered in .some eddies that by dipping a net in, a kerosene tin could bo filled at one sweep. They make their, way up steadily, till* they got to Mercer, and then they go to the feeding grounds to grow and fatten till the fall of tho yoar. Some make their way up tho Maungatawhiri and Whangamarino Creeks, but thoso that go up tho other bank seem to mostly make for Whangape Lake. Anyone who has been into this lake from tho river will have noticed in the small creek, that leads to it series of old eel weirs, which, by the way, have been partly pulled up and widened for launch traffic, used in bygone days by the i Maoris. They were built every few i chains, so that tho eels, coming out of ■ the lake, were forced to go through the j narrow part of the weir, where the ! ' hinaki' was placed. . .

" The old Maoris knew all about the movements of the eels. They knew that tho cols went into tho lake in the spring and enme back in the autumn fat and ready to bo caught and dried. An old Maori told ine that every April tfje tribe resorted there, pitched camp and sot the traps. Every hour, day and night, the ' hinakis " were lifted, and tho contents wore shot into the canoes and taken to camp, there to bo etrung up; dried and packed away for the winter's consumption. The tribe that had a harvest field liko this was envied, and many a strugglo took placa for these choice spots. Though the eels may ho seen ascending the river, I have never noticed them descending. The supposition is that they keep to the deeper water and glido down leisurely with the current. The Maoris say that these eels do not bite a hook bait like their kind in the creeks. ' Their name for this species is ' puhi,' to distinguish them from the ordinary ones, which they call the ' tuna.' They like tho grown-up eel, but never cM the small ones going up the river, as they say they are too gritty and of poor flavour." Mr Percy Smith has received a note on eels from Mr W. M. Jones, of Hobart, who says: —"I was greatly interested in your remarks on the habits of these fish. Thero is a small stream called the Waihi, flowing into the sea about a mile south of the Mokau Heads, over a water-fall about eight feet High, where tho sight you described, of young eels climbing a fall, may be seen every" spring: the eels come with the last of tho whitebait." ••

"If you are fond of tiiis you would like this place," writes Mr J. W. Murdoch from Half-moon- Bay, Stewart Island.' " They Are hero in great numbers. A great deal of their time seems to be taken up in chasing sparrows. Thero is a peculiarity about tho tuis which I have often noticed. Of course, it is well known that their song varies with the seasons, and in the early winter they are rather silent; but what I want to sny it* that their song changes with, tho locality. For instance, the song of the Half-moon Bay tui is quite different from the song of tuis inlnjjnting the sub-alpine bush of the Pegasus district at the same time of year. The same remark applies to the bell-bird. The tut is not a disappearing bird here by any means, but the bell-bird is, and I think most of tho other native birds are. The island is over-run with wild cats, and is infested with rats, both big factors in the extinction of bird life. T)t Cockayne was hero Konio time ago. T hud the pleasure of helping him with his field work, and I gave him a list of the Stewart Island land birds, and of some of the sea birds with which

I was acquainted. At the same time I urged upon him the necessity for having a notice board placed on the wharf here, announcing that sea birds and other,native birds are protected. Tho sea birds especially are ruthlessly destroyed. Boys and men, visitors to the island, armed with small-bore rifles, deal out destruction. The practice is repeated every year. People do not know what the law is, or if they do know it they ignore it."

A correspondent at Cambridge, Mr J. Mayo, states that the Maoris in the Taupo district value the long-tailed cuckoo for the sake of its handsomo tail feathers, which they use for ornaments. He believes that the cuckoo sucks the eggs of other birds. He has often watched small native birds chase the cuckoo. . It sometimes climbod up the stem of a tall tea-tree, and then dropped to the ground, .with the small birds twittering and chattering, and giving it no peace until, tired out by their persistence, it took refugo in the rushes of a swamp, and ran along under the sedge until it was clear of its tormentors.

Mr Frank M. Burtt, of Remuera Road, • Auckland, wishes to know if blackbirds are guided by sound as well as by sight when they search for worms. He 'says • that he has never seen the subject dealt with in print, and, although he has put the question to several people, he has' never had any confirmation of his own opinion that they are guided by sound. Sitting on his verandah, and hidden by creepers, he has often watched one blackbird, who was only about twenty feet away from him. The bird hopped along, then remained quite stationary for two or three seconds, and seemed to be listening intentJv. Then, as quick as thought, he hopped pound and drove his bill into the ground, and, with a vigorous pull, extracted a worm. It seemed to bo impossible that the bird could have seen its victims. The longer Mr Burtt watched the bird the more convinced he was that it found the worms by sound. He did not see it pick up any insects or any other food except worms in that way. He believes that the sound of a worm dragging itself through the soil just below the surface, although it makes no impression upon the human ear, might "be easily recorded by a bird's highly sensitive organ.