NATURE NOTES.

Marlborough Express, Volume XLII, Issue 167, 16 July 1908, Page 3

NATURE NOTES.

WINTER AND gtJMMER. (My James Druinmend, F.L.S., F.Z'.S.) .

Where man has notjbried'to improve upon-Nature's work in New" Zealand, the seasons do not bring very striking contrasts to the eye. Outwardly, winter and summer. ;«re _ very much alike. Except for-a chilliness in the air and falls of snow in the southland the rapid and stealthy—approach of night, a bright day iri winter in many parts of this Dominion can hardly be distinguished from an ordinary summer's day. The insects, which are children of the summer in New Zealand, as'well a&in other countries, are missed in the' winter , months, of course, and the cicadas' loud/ rolling chorus, rising and swelling in Jbhe air, is silent. Native birds, howev.er, are present. There ' are not many migrants amongst them. Two species of cuckoos ci*o§s more than a thousand miles of ocean to spend in Polynesia -a warmer winter thpn New Zealand can offer, and three or four species of shore birds go to northern continents. The godwits are the only,, migrants that" leave in flocks. They depart from the districts.singly, but assemble in thousands near the North Cape before they start out upon their journey to. Eastern; Siberia. Only a few persons have, recorded the godwit's remarkable ;flight from New Zealand, and the'departure of the small band of migratory birds is usually unnoticed, and has neither climatic nor mythical significance.

< ft -\;is /the unchanging native trees and shrubs thatfjgive the seasons here, a v l^tufe intended that this ooufatry should be always green. The ineiflbers of the native flora, with im exe&ptionsj do not shed their leaves. -They/ are bright, green, and fresh all the year round. The brilliant garment they form for the land never iades. It has ample variety, however, the colours of the leaves

varying from a light, bright -yellow, ' which patches the sun's faintest rays, to the: darkest green. Perhaps the • "greatest contrasts in this'respect are afforded by the.cordyline, which every.New gealander knows by the name of cabbfige-tree, but which is described more pretentiously and correctly as a palm-My, and the dark ,and sombre fagus; forests, which colonist* -_call beech-trees. There is more seasonal change in the cities than in country districts where the old New Zealand forests still stand. This is largely be.<;ause men make their influence felt whenever two;or three are gathered 'together. Man'was. not satisfied with the plants Nature gave New Zealand. He/ believed that he could improve gupcin Nature's efforts, and when he •canie to live in , this land he" brought witn him ornamental trees he had knojwn in the Old* Country: Most of -these throw off their leaves when the ecold weather comes, and for several months of the year they are mute witnesses in our towns and cities of winter's'presence. y , Although there is not much change with, .the seasons in Nature's appear.ance an this country, her moods come ■ ancl. ,;«<V sometimes with startling rapidity. When she smiles all {he rearth 'smiles with her. When she frowns^ she holds attention by the magnificence, of her anger. There is nothing more beautiful than the Lady of the SLight, Rosy-fingered Morn,- as . Homer '.fondly calls her, when she rises lrom bed in the ocean, dressed in her saffron robes, and sweeps lightly over the, waters, sheening them first with silvter and then with gold. She touches |he forest trees with her slender fingers, gives a signal to the birds to send fiorth their wild and bewildering songi of praise, and calls into activity All the hosts of the animal kingdom. | one "brings each deathless essen/cc light, and use to mortal .eyes," Bdmer says. In these latitudes, it is in tflie morning, winer and summer alikte, that Nature is most frequently jse'en at her brightest. It is

in the evening that she most frequently displays: her coolness and disdain. But in all moods and aspects, when the rocks dance in the heat, or when the cold winter mists gather on the mountain tops.: and green trees become piirply black, andl white-plumed waves, struck by arrogant winds, advance, line upon line, to thunder on the shore, she is beautiful and fascinating beyond measure. Her beauty is not skin deep. It has both depth and permanency, and it is as boundless as the universe itself. Her minute work is as i beautiful as her vast schemes. The smallest of her creatures is .as shapely as the greatest^ There is' as much beauty in a pond by the wayside as in the mighty^ ocean. The beauty of the forest is rivalled by the beauty of each tree and shrub, moss and lichen, flower and leaf. The most graceful bird has a rival in every teather on its body, and every feather is rivalled by every barb and the barbule in its structure. The splendid dragon-fly, who

Tilts against the field, And down the listed sunbeam rides re-

splendent, With steel-blue mail and shield,

.ijS;..^t:^;more;;^eaut;iful.' than the gauzy wingsihat^ carry, ?Mni on - his rapid, restless course through the air. :: •"/;>■: Mlthbugh "Nature's ' surpassing' beauty never fades, it is only one of her attractions; and it is not the greatest. Those, who know v her well feel that, the contemplation of -her beauty gives less pleasure than win-." ning from her even :&;■ small particle of the knowledge /she possesses and in, becoming acquainted with the methods she has followed in her stupendous schemes. There is; no delight as; keen as the delight of discovery; and Nature offers fields of discovery that are absolutely limitless. She has great truths about number. By/ fencing them round she-has tantalisingly .placed them out of easy reach. They caririot he secured without a determined effort, and their possession is a certificate of stimulating bodily and mental exercise. Only, those who have experienced \ the sensation know the delight of seeing a rare bird and not> ing its habits for the first time, of stumbling across the remains of a creature that'lived in this world in, the dim millenniums of long ago, or ot finding a plant or ariimaT, even if it is y6ne of the humblest members of its class, that has not been recorded before. Charles Kingsley, indeed, held a belief that the pleasure of finding a new species was too great. "It is morally dangerous," he said, "for it brings with it, the temptation to look on the thing found as your own Possession, all but your own creation; to pride yourself on it, as if God had not known it for ages since; even to squabble jealously for the right of having it named after you, and of be•ng recorded as its first discoverer, as it all the angels in heaven had not been admiring it before you were bora or thought of." Kingsley, of course, was only half m earnest. As a matter ot tact, the genuine pleasure comes not with the sense of possession of knowledge and truth, but in the search after them. Nature's supply of these things is inexhaustible. There' is no end to the studies she encourages, and that is the secret of her greatest .fascination.—N.Z. Herald