SERENADE OF THE MOSQUITO

Northern Advocate, 7 January 1938, Page 6

SERENADE OF THE MOSQUITO

All is not luxury to campers. Nights are not always fine, the days not always sunny, the water not always calm and welcoming. Nor is the mosquito always asleep when campers are about. In fact he is very much awake and alive to the potential feeding ground of camp sites. He loves this humid weather. When neople lie awake hour after hour, tossing and turning in their beds, waiting for morning to come with its first cup of tea, Mr Mosquito is busy spying out the land and making ready for strategic attacks upon the sleepless one who protrudes a leg for coolness sake. So far this season Whangarei has not seen over-much of this annual visitor. Residents on the higher elevations arc practically immune from his savage attacks, and numbers of people have not even seen him or heard him this summer.

A Different Story, Those living on the lower levels have a different story to tell. Mr Mosquito is no stray hermit here. Far from it. He brings with him uncles, aunts, brothers, sisters, cousins of all degrees and a host of flying friends. The particular delight of the army is to feast on the logs of night-time bathers and moon-sitters around the harbour.

Campers at Whangarei have been singularly fortunate in that they have not had to enter into any really serious blood-thirsty conflict with the mosquito tribe. Being on an elevation, the camp site does not offer so much temptation as do the lower areas of the town but, even so, a few strays from the major flock have paid unwary campers unkind visits. Some People Immune. Even the best of camping equipment does not give complete protection from the mosquito’s serenade, for no matter how small the crack, or how slight the parting of the curtains, or how momentary the opening of a door, some members of the unwanted species will be there. Peculiarly enough, some people are entirely immune from their savage attacks, while others, particularly children (possibly because they wear less than grown-ups) are prone to attack even from the most polite member of the mosquito fraternity. According to reports from other centres, however, Whangarei's mosquito parade this year has been very orderly and has hardly even been noticed, although hopes must not be built up unduly, for who knows but that the few insects that have appeared might not bo the scouts for a vast army awaiting the signal for attack. Where Does lie Get The Energy? What we really would like to know is. how docs the mosquito find the energy to fly round so eagerly in this present humid spell, when most humans feel like washed out grease spots?