IN TOUCH WITH NATURE

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXXII, Issue 15717, 9 September 1911, Page 12

IN TOUCH WITH NATURE

NOTES ON NATURAL HISTORY IN NEW ZEALAND.

(By J. DRUMMOND, F.L.S., P.Z.S.) A good deal of evidence has been supplied lately in regard to the fighting instincts of the tui. Most of it has arisen out of the controversy between Dr R. Fulton, of Dunedin, and Mr A. P. Sharkey, of Ross, over tire attitudo of the tui to two species of native cuckoos. Mr W. Lest, of Otaki, lias seen tuis chase a cuckoo, but ho has never seen the incident oncl in a capture. Although the tuis were present in numbers, the cuckoos held to a straight course, and did not even condescend to dodge out of the way of their pursuers. Ho has, also seen tins chase tho harrior. kept pace with the hawk and make frequent darts at it, but did not seem to strike. Ine hawk evidently knew that they \\ ou.d do no harm, as it did not try to retaliate. The harrier seems to. bo more afraid of the Australian magpie*. Ibere are a few in the Otaki district They usually live together, chasing a hawk they make furious daits at it, one following tho other. 4 x„,, a R Iel » when attacked in this way, often turns on its back.'"ft®Si,“ d tol<my i„ t Sir* Ef„“on i ***** tuis. Oil Olio occasion he saiv a sim - row-hawk clmsing a lugeo a jj; come out of the busii tow , , tVliother tho pigeon was actuallj struck or not, ho does not reiu» ». was so exhausted thatjt about * qmot pool in a river anu , ’ unable to rise A’^Uowlts prey stump on the bank. It s 0

interested’ in tho proceedings that it did not realise its danger, and a charge of shot brought it to the ground.

“ In the days when all these things took place,” Mr Best adds, “birds of all kinds were very numerous, sparrowhawks among them. I have often watched those hawks chasing small birds. Although it was, no doubt, a serious tiling for the little fellows, I followed the chase with great interest and pleasure. A small bird would dodge and turn in all directions, and tho hawk, going at full speed, would stop and, apparently, turn in his own length, then off again on the new course. 1 am afraid that the hawk generally came out on top; but not always. Sometimes it would suddenly give up the chase and go back to tiie forest without any apparent reason. I onco saw a sparrowhawk sitting on tho ground some thirty or forty yards from the house. When I drew near to investigate, it rose with a full-grown hen in its claws, which it carried off to the bush. The incident shows that sparrowhawks must be endowed with a good degree of strength, as well as speed. With regard to Mr 8. Brown’s remarks about the North Island crow, I quite agree with him, except that they are a little inquisitive at times. I have stood perfectly still on seeing a pair, and have watched their movements. As soon as they caught sight of mo they would come gradually closer, until I could almost reach them with my hand. They whistled in their low, bell-like notes, and after hopping round me for ten minutes or so went off on their own affairs. They were fairly plentiful in this district ten or twelve years ago, and, I believe, are so still, but I have not been ranch in the bush of late years, so have had no opportunity of judging.”

In the Hokianga district, writes Mr P. Bourke, the vegetable caterpillar is known to the Maoris as “ otiki ” and “ otiki-manu.” After an acquaintanceship with this insect extending over about twenty years, Mr Bourke has come to the conclusion that several different grubs fall victime to the fungus that evidently causes the metamorphosis. The most frequent victim in Hokianga is a small white grub, or caterpillar. Ho describes it as being remarkably active. He finds some difficulty in confining it in anything that has not got a tight lid. When it is placed on the ground it sets off at a quick pace, and soon gots into hiding. Ho has found these insects in all lengths, from one inch to four inches, mostly in light soil resting on conglomerate rocks, and always in tho neighbourhood of rata trees. Mr Bourke has found the grubs in all stages of change. Some of them were just dormant. Others had tho vegetable shoot in all degrees of growth, from the opening of the head to the old shoot with the ripe brown seed in it The seed, he says, is oval in shape, dark brown in colour, and smaller than ratstail seed. One of Mr Bourko’s brothers found a kumara grub, which he calls the “awheto,” in a completely changed condition. There was no shoot from tho head, but it had the spike at tho tail end. No kumaras had ever been planted in the garden, which was in tho heart of the forest. His brother now possesses a large yellow chrysalis, which seems to have been victimised by the fungus, as it is quite changed, and has a bunch of lino shoots issuing from the mouth. When the vegetable caterpillar was first brought under the notice of scientists, all tho specimens were found close to rata trees. This gave rise to a belief that' its habitat was always close to those trees, but later investigations proved that that was not correct. On this point Mr Bourke says:—“l have heard of the vego table caterpillar being found where there were no ratas, but I have found some hundreds of specimens, and all have beon near ratas. Mr Harms, of Broadwood, says that he has found them in different timbers, and considers that tho grub bores into trees he names. Tho grubs I have found in those timbers are what tho Maoris call 1 makaroas ’ a pulpy, puce-coloured thing. While splitting puriri once, I found in the heart a transformed grub with a shoot from each leg and four from its head, ten in all, and nearly all a foot long. I don’t know what the white grub I have mentioned lives on, or what it turns into if the fungus does not make it a victim. I iiavo found it at different depths, from a few ip ches to several feet. _ Its appearance in' an excavation is a pretty sure sign that the transformed grubs are about also. Whether the live grub bores into any sort of timber, I don’t know, but I have not found anything like it alive in any timber in Hokianga, and have never found it away from tho neighbourhood of ratas. As I said before, I think that several grubs become transformed, and this white one most frequently of all.”

Mr Oliver Caldwell, of Apiti, in the Wellington province, claims an acquaintanceship with the vegetable caterpillar of forty years in the South Island, and also in the North Island. Ho states that he has dug up many fine specimens in all stages of growth, and in some cases with two and three branches on tho stem. In one ca3e the main stem had been broken off, and two other shoots had developed. Sometimes the shoots were short and thick, sometimes a foot long. Some of the insects were in a perpendicular position in tho ground, others horizontal; some deep down, others just below the surface. As far as his inquiries have gone, the nearest resemblance between the vegetable caterpillar and a living insect is to a borer, into a shrub called the “ mako-mako’’ by Maoris. He believes that the caterpillar which lives in the miro and the lace-bark tree is the same insect. In the South Island ho has found the caterpillar in places where there was no miro; lace-bark or mako-mako, and littlo except manuka and beech, vet tho caterpillars were tho same there as at Apiti. In tho. early days the Maoris at Massacre Bay grew large quantities of kumaras, and the caterpillar that infests Maori gardens could be seen at almost any time on the leaves. They kept the Maori ladies busy. The insect, Mr Caldwell says, was exactly the same as the description given in these notes some weeks ago. It consumed the edges of the kumara leaf and also the convolvulus leaf. He docs not think that tho kumara caterpillar is identical with the vegetable caterpillar. He never heard of tho Maoris eating tho vegetablo caterpillar, although tho great earth-worms were regarded as a common delicacy, and bugs, grubs, lizards and other'things were on the bill-of-fare.

Writing from Aaitutalri, in the Cook Islands, Major Large says:—“ln an article published in the March number of 1 Life,’ entitled ‘ The Bird Life of our Northern Coasts,’ , describing tho experiences of an expedition of the Australasian Ornithologists’ Union to tho Capricorn Group, on tho const of Queensland, in the late winter of last year, mention is made of the shilling ouckoo of New Zealand, which winters in the north, being found there. I was always of opinion that our old favourite, the pipiwharauroa, wintered in the northern parts of Australia and adjacent lands, and this confirms it.”