N.Z. BIRD LIFE.

Mataura Ensign, Issue 1418, 1 December 1904, Page 4

N.Z. BIRD LIFE.

DISAI'I'EAKINO FAIiNA. I'nifi'sbur A, Ncwtqp, Professor of Aiolog, and comparative anatomy at Magdalene College, Cambridge, who who firm' brought the subject of Irird protection prominently Wore the Hriti>h Association, mid was instruuMnitjil in huving the lirnt Acts of Parliament passed for the protect ion of British Ijmls. has written to a resident" of ('liristclmrch in regard io bird lift! in New Zt'uluiid. Ho says that in reading tln- "Animals of Now Zealand" lie was much impressed with tho application of the words "extinct," "In'CoUiing extinct," "verv rare,", and ' now rare" to H|>ecies'after specie* of birds. "The worst of it," he adds, "is that there seems to be no way of avoiding the fate that overhangs one of the most instructive and interest'i! 14 faunas of the whole world. There are, unfortunately, many other islands where the same things are hupiKMiitig or have happ<tu<d; but tho fainiu of New Zealand was so intrinsically remarkable that its extirpation is to l>e regretted ulmoiit beyond that of all others. How long Its re-f tnnant may survive no one proklably can say 1 put very little trust' in your two sanctuaries, however carefully they may be looked after, tas a means.of putting off the evil day- The thought of all this makes mo melancholy. and that feeling gives way to unger when 1 remember the mischief done by the accliuiatisers, even when their motives may have been as good as that of Captain Cook whiJD ho stocked the country with |»igs. In the interests of zoological science generally, it seems a pity . that someone does not investigate' the precise way in which the introduced species act upon the old. inhabitants of the ooun- ' try. We are no doubt right in considering the aliens 'stronger' than the | natives but we know nothing, I think I of the wuy in which their strength is exerted. Ido not supt»ac it to be, I except ill a slight degree, due to sup- ! ci iority in actual conflict, but rather imagine tlmt the new-comers occupy the area formerly held by tho abori- | ginal tenants and .deprive thenr of the, j means o[ sustenance, which are being * givaitly diminished already by tie destruction of the old forests. But this is all hypothetical, and it will be most useful ,to know from observation w hat the truth really is. Depend upon it, too, that even your sea-birds are not, safe, mid that your two Species of gulls, und most of your |>eculinr species of shags, run the risk of extirpation, even as do . the land birds." Kcferring to the shags, he says that these birds have a very useful lesson to teach,, if only (jeople had the time to learn it. Professor Newton has devoted a great Ideal of attention to expiring faunas, notably of those of the Mnseaicne and Sandwich Islands.' I'Yir mauy yews he was chairman of tin* Close-time Committee in Knir'and and of the British Assocciatiou's Migration of Birds Committee.