FROM NATURE'S BOOK

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXVII, Issue 17907, 28 September 1918, Page 5

FROM NATURE'S BOOK

NOTES ON NATURAL HISTORY IN NEW ZEA'MND. (By J. DRTJMMOND, F.L.8., F.Z.S.) The skin of a stormy petrel baa been sent to me by an anonymous correspondent at Whnngarei. Ho found it. ■washed up on a beach north of that town. Its prevailing colour is sooty black, which extends from its bill to its legs and feet, but it has whit© feathers on the wing and over tiro tail. It is commonly known as Wilson's stormy petrel, and in bird literature it bears a pretty and euphonious title: Oceanitos oceanicus. It is only one of four distinct .specie* of stormy pytrels recorded in New Zealand ?eas. They are the smallest members of the petrel family, and are the smallest birds with webbed feet. Wilson's stormy potrei is not as plentiful in Nov/ Zealand seas as some of the allied species, but it is one of the commonest sea-birds in thesets around Australian coasts and is a crsmopoliten. An Australian observer states that when flying it is very active; it keeps its wing.i expanded and also uses its feet for patting the surfaco of the water, with its wings extended downward and its head inclined downwards, while it gathers food that may lie on the water. There is no record of this child of the ocean having made its home in any part of New Zealand, It lays a white egg. with many pinkish dots, which sometimes are all at one end. Some writers use the title storm petrels for those birds. This is correct. but stormy petrels is an old, sanctioned and well-understood title, which v will not easily bo replaced. Charles Waterton, an English naturalist, who described his wanderings in South America, referred with a pleasant fancy to this bird. He called it the little harbinger of storms, and said that it must have been hatched in /Edna's cave amongst a clutch of squalls and temi pests, as, whenever they went out upon the ocean, it contrived to bo a member of tho party. Mr J. Pattison, writing from Moana, Lake Brunner, one of the most picturesque places in New Zealand, states that in tho Kopara district and some parts of South Westland, during the recent snowstorms, many native pigeons went down from the forests and settled in grass paddocks, whore they fed on the leaves of tho white clover. Mr Pattison adds that, when the miro and white pine and other berries are not in soason, pigeons subsist on the small leaves of native trees, whose leaves in size and shape do not differ greatly from the leaf of the clever. Mr Pat tison was pleasantly surprised a few clays ago when ho was told by a reliable observer that the bittern in the Kopara district and the district surrounding Lake Haupiri are ,not only holding their own, but actually increasing. A short, time ago a settler there found a young bittern,- and set it at liberty again. In the Karamea district, north of Westport, also, it is reported tho bittera is fairly plentiful. Thirty years ago Mr W. W. Smith, of New Plymouth, who had seen most of the great forest lands of New Zealand, found the vegetation on the shores of Lake Brunner to be in greater profusion and perfection than in any other district with which he was acquainted. He believed that in luxuriance it rivalled the forests of tropical America. He found the homes of both tho kakapo and the kiwi in the rich groves of tree-ferns, and in the saplings of taller growth and the branches of towering timber trees, many native birds revelled and enlivened the forests all day long with ricli and varied notes. Amongst the birds of tho district Mr Smith noted the morepork, tho kaka, the kea, the kakapo, the kiwi, the two native cuckoos, the tui, the boll-bird, the white-eye, the yellow-head, the greywarbler, the rifleman wren, the bush wren, the robin, the kingfisher, the tomtit, tho two fantails, tho native thrush, tho native crow, the native pigeon, the saddleback, the white heron, tho blue heron, tho bittern, tho little bittern, the blue duck, the little teal, tho crested grebe, the dabchick, the woka, the kiwi, the black stilt, the white-headed stilt, tho_ pukeko, the shags, and several species of sea-birds. It would bo interesting to know how many of these species survive in the district, and Mr Smith's visit to Westland .in' 1888, by the way, convinced him that the Notornis probably existed in swampy parts of the foresta or sedgy lagoons some distance inland on southern rivers of the Westland Province.

During a visit to Hangitoto Island, at the entrance to Auckland Harbour, this month, Mr J. G. Poynter, of Devonport, was surprised at the absence of bird life. Ho did not see even a fantail. Ho saw n few berry-bearing trees, aud mentions ono he knew in Nelson as the parrakeefc berry. Wallabies and opossums have been placed on the island. Ho saw signs of the latter, but, they seemed to be somewhat old. Ho also saw signs of rabbits. Ho suggests that grass should be sown in an area of good soil near the summit, in order to add to tho food supplies of animals on the island, and names Angora goats as desirable additions to the fauna, because they mould ad'l to tho attractions for visitors. There is a steady pull for two miles to the summit, but the journey may be made slowly with four or five rests, and refreshments are supplied at a tea kiosk. The view includes Motutapu, Tire, Motuihi and Browns Island, and oil the bays for miles around. Mr J. B. Armstrong. 16, Burlington Street. Sydenham, Christchurch, reports that a fow patches of the comfrey plant, used for wounds, grow close to'roadsides at Marshland, notably amongst grass on Hill's Bond, slightly north ofßriggs's Road. Several varieties of tho plant once grew m the Christchurch Botanic Gardens, but they seem to have disappeared from there.

A correspondent at Ponsonby, whose house is infested with ants, states that ha is able to keep the insects under by using a few spoonfuls of powdered borax, a dessertspoonful of golden syrup, honey or icing sugar, mixed with about two tablespoonruls of hot water, which should bo stirred until the'ingredients are dissolved. The nx'xt.nre should be placsd in shallow dishes or in tho lids of tins, which should be set in places visit-eel by tho ants. They come in hundreds to drink the sweet liquid, and are poisoned. Tho correspondent has tried many kinds of insect powders, but finds that they lose their strength, and that tho ants then go through them as if they were dust.