NATURE—AND MAN

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXVI, 7 April 1934, Page 10

NATURE—AND MAN

LEAD FOR GOVERNMENT A HELPFUL MINISTER (Edited by Leo Fanning) The Hon. J. A. Young (Minister of Internal Affairs), wlm has strongly ranged himself on the side of (lie general' public in the war against destructive deer, lias given New Zealanders a very impressive reminder about the need of a widespread persistent, campaign against the pests of (lie native forests, lie lias been up in the woodlands id' 1 lie southern alpine country, and lie has seen the ravages of |be animals. The Ministers emphatic condemnation of l hi* enemies id the forests lias won the. approval of many leading journalists. The national attitude of the principal newspapers ojves good ground for hope that soon ii very powerful body of public opinion will fortify the in a definite determined policy against deer in all districts where they have proved themselves a nuisance. A deal' car must, be for ever turned to the pleas of persons who ngitule for conservation of deer for sport.

Again it is necessary to urge that a substantial portion of the money provided by flic general public for the relief of unemployment, should be used in the onset against deer. A wise effective use of money for that purpose simply means that New Zealanders believe it is worth while to save New Zealand. BARBAROUS BIRD-LIME A circular issued by a New Zealand linn quotes prices for bird-lime, which is mainly used for the capture of goldfinches. Farmers and other folk, who occasionally rise in short-sighted wrath against certain small-birds, do not resort to bird-lime. Tliev prefer to adopt methods which assure a larger toll of lives. It is well known to students of nature that the gold-finch is very useful in New Zealand. It does not touch fruit; it does not even feed on crops such as wheat and oats. It has feasts of weed-seeds—thistle, dandelion, groundsel, ehickweed, ragwort and other nuisances. At Miramar, Wellington, recently a citizen saw a llock of gold-finches devouring eagerly the seeds of ragwort. Does not such a feathered friend deserve protection. Alas! .Many of them suffer the anguish of capture by bird-lime, and a life-long sentence of imprisonment in a small cage. The “Lament of a Caged Goldfinch,” written by F. L. Horner, is not overdrawn.

A wretched little goldfinch I! My song is changed to piteous cry. Through long days drear I fret and rage Pent tight within this narrow cage. Broken my leg, worn hare both wings

and tail In puny efforts—but of no avail— To free myself. I can’t get out! I hear the children play and shout And wonder on this sunny morn Why bird like me was ever born.

Hearken! One comes with hushed

breath. He whispers “Birdie, I am Death, Love’s servant, sent to set you free.” I feel a, warmth enfolding me Like mother wings in bygone days, To kindly Death be thanks and praise. Mail’s cruelty I can now defy, And so I . . . little Goldfinch . . . die. A PUZZLED SEAGULL Here is a story —true, of course—told by a Wellington citizen who received it from an actor in the little comedy. The scene was the Ninety Mile heneli. North Auckland, where a golfing enthusiast was having a holiday. He smote the little white ball which whizzed far along the shining strand. The missile came to rest near a black-backed seagull which regarded it as a lucky windfall. “All! Here is a new kind of delicious cockle,” the bird thought as it pounced upon the object, gripped it in its beak, and Hew up with the mock-titbit. Very shrewdly tlie captor dropped the hall from a height 011 to the hard sand. The bird hoped to see a broken shell, but it dill not despair. The performance was repeated again and again during half an hour, and then the seagull was satisfied that the new kind of cockle was an unnatural freak.

WRATH OF THE BLUE PENGUIN

When Mr IT. Guthric-Smith was in and about Stewart Island, gathering facts and pictures for his book “'Mutton Birds and Other Birds,” he made ail interesting study of the blue penguin which nests in rocky crevices, in eaves or in burrows scraped opt beneath rotting logs or amongst the knot-, ted roots of living trees.

“The blue penguin is most irascible when excited and disturbed in its burrow,” wrote the author. “It. acts not only on the defensive but makes sorties of three, or four feet from its eggs, and grasps with ii ferocious giip the cap or hat guarding the digger’s bands. The object thus seized is taken into a sort of double chancery, the penguin holding it in its beak whilst administering a furiously rapid heating with both ’flippers—what is termed in old-fashioned children’s literature, ‘a sound flogging.’ Only have I see equal rapidity of admonishment when, from a doorway in a crowded street, an over-worked mother of many seizes a small offender, pins him with one dexterous twist to her maternal gremiuni, in a fury spanks him Standing, and rushes buck to her over-boiling pot. “The action of the little penguin displays just tlie same furious haste. It is thinking of its eggs and annoyed at the distraction, and really the performance so resembled a human smacking administered expeditiously that I seemed to hear the cry and see the wriggling escape of I lit' victim and the rubbing of the afilieted part. Ihe noise of these encounters and the furious snarling of tlie spit-fire penguin was altogether too much for my dog Banjo’s equanimity. The field naturalist was lost in him. Dancing on his taut, rope like a- heraldic lion he roared his mingled feelings out. joy at the din of battle bray, and deep disgust at inability to help.”