FROM NATURE’S BOOK

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXVII, Issue 17946, 13 November 1918, Page 3

FROM NATURE’S BOOK

(By J. DRttMMOND, Pi. 8., P.Z.S.) The arrival of the shining cuckoo is reported at Whitakau, Motu, uearGistorne, on October 5, by Mrs 15. D. Hewetson; at Silverstream, Wellington province, on October 1, by a correspondent; and at Voletta, near Ashburton, on October 21, by Mr C. Rules. Mr Rides’s report is one of the first .received this season from the South Island. Last year he heard the visitor or. November 5 but could not find it. This,year he saw it. “It seemed to bo quito done,” he writes; “its wings were hanging down like those of a male sparrow in a light. Its appearance, however, seemed to show that it had had a good meal. I reached within eight feet of it, and saw it obtain several insects amongst ■ the branches of a maeroearpa that had been felled. If it was not so keen in looking for food I would have thought that it‘ was in bad health.” Mrs Hewetson has sent the first record this season of the long-tailed cuckoo’s arrival. She heard tho clear whirring note on October 15, at a characteristic tim,e, namely, eleven o’clock at night. ■Tho long-tailed cuckoo, of term known by its Maori name, koekoea, is much •less plentiful than its lustrous relative, or it attracts much less attention from human beings. - Few people, evidently, are interested in its goings and comings. This may bo accounted for by the fact that it has a dull plumage, a somewhat repellaut, hawk-like aspect, and a harsh note. In all these respects it is it contrast to the shining cuckoo.

Mr W. U. Henning, Akaroa, has written enclosing an extract from the, “ New English Dictionary,” now being published by Oxford University, to confirm a statement in this column a few weeks ago, that clematis should be spelt With a short “e” and a short “‘a”—clem-atis. It is impossible to reproduce the extract, because linotype machines used by daily newspapers are not equipped' with signs showing clir-, fererit accents on vowels. The dictionary states emphatically that ..“ clematis” is a frequent mispronunciation. Mr Henning adds that the word as it now stands was adopted into the Engr lish language from the Latin, and that the Romans took it from the. Greek, retaining both tho spoiling and tho pronunciation. Mr J. C. Smith, Richmond Aven*ue, Nortficote, Auckland, has written to state that as he is an ojd man and very conservative ho likes the old pronunciation, presumably the one the “New English Dictionary” discountenances. The old style seems to him to be much more euphonious than the new stylo. While pig-hunting in the back country 'beyond -Patea, Taranaki, some months ago, Mr M. E. Voullaire found that a dog belonging to the party had caught, and killed a large kiwi. Ho describes it as “a big grey* chap, with a bill more than seven inches’long.” Tlfe owner of the property informed him that his dogs had caught several kiwis, which are fairly, plentiful" there,, but. that although he has spent-years., on the survey in many parte of the North Island, the kiwi caught recently is the first of the kind he had seen. It i.s a puzzle iif geographical distribution. It is evidently, tho great spotted kiwi, the roa-roa of Ma,oris • and Apteryx Haasti of scientists. Its headquarters, ar&" the suli-Alpine -regions of tlie West Const of the. South Island. The long bill-mentioned by Mr Voullaire shows that tho specimen *j.;o female! There is only one previous record of this kiwi having been found iii the North Island. It was made about twenty years ago by the Hon. W; Rothschild, of Tring, England, in “ The Ibis,” the journal of the British Ornithologists’ Union. Mr Rothschild, alter referring to this kiwi’s presence in,the South Island states that “it Is found also in isolated places in the King .Qountry, in-. the' North Island,” v Sir’ Walter Duller expressed an opinion that Mr Rothschild, who did not state his authority, was mistaken, but it seems that this South Island.opecios certainly has a few representatives on tho northern side of Cook Strait. This is the species that Mr ,R. E. Clouston, about seven years ago, found to bo plentiful on the Go’uland Downs, a wild, isolated tract on the West Coasi, j ■south of Collingwood. ' At the Govern- ; ment’s request twenty-five individuals were caught by him and" were, sent to j the Little Barrier Island sanctuary.

Twenty-live years ago Sir Walter Bui-' ler liberated a single individual on a beautiful island in Papaetongo Lake, Wellington province, ‘ At th<v same time lie liberated on the island a pair of little grey kiwis. Apteryx Oweni, and a single North Island kiwi. To prevent Maoris,’from , disturbing the birds in the nesting season, he; placed three Hve tuataras on the island as guardians, ‘believing that the Maoris’ dread of these reptiles would be an effectual bar to. marauding visits. , Ho. named the tuataras after three noted, dragons in Maori mythology: Peketahu, Whangi-Moko-Puna, and Heromatangi. Twentvfive years have, seen a change in. Maori beliefs, and it is doubtful if anybody now has a supernatural. dread of tuataras. The little grey kiwi also is reported occasionally from the North Island. Mr Morgan Carkeek, a member of the Survey Department, found a specimen on Mount Hector, at the head of the Hath ltiver, .Wellington province, forty-three years ago, It was amongst some show grass, at a. height, of 3000 ft. Higher up the • mountain the species was plentiful, and lie saw it occasionally below the snow-line, frequenting mossy places in forest, free from undergrowth. 1

A. beautiful lizard, with hues changing from yellow'to green'and green to yellow, has been' sent by Mr 0; Baliantyne, T© Kauwhata, near Palmerston North. It was " posted on October .14, and reached m© at Christchurch on October til, none the worse for‘its long journey in a small tin box. It libs been handed to-Mr H. G. Ell, M.P., who has liberated it on Sugar Loaf Hill, one of the Summit Road reserves. Sir J. G. Draper, Maungatapero, near Whangarei, wishes to know which native shrub in New Zealand has l the quickest growth. His. own qpinion is that the record is held by. the tutu, which on tho road near Maungatapere, ho says,-grows like rhubarb, tho shoots being from three feet to five feet high. A specimen qf - a large species' of moth, Hepialis virescens, the largest species in New Zealand, has.'been sent by Mr J. Kennedy, .of Karnngahake, about thirty miles south of_ Thames., He found it lying on the side of a road.* Attracted by. its colour, hvy ©laced it in a matchbox find took it' home. It was apparently almost dead, and it had-remained in that state until he wrote twelve hours later. Master S. Buttimoro, o.’ Taneatua, Bay of Plenty, states that while birdnesting he found a thrush’s nest with four eggs, and two additional eggs embedded in the side so deeply that only the tops could be seen. The.additional eggs, apparently, ' were laid' before the nest was ..completed, and were plastered’ in with, the material used in the last stage of construction. Thrushes in that' district this year are laying l an exceptionally large number of eggs—from four to eight are common. ■ - '