WAR ON THE PUKEKO

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume 76, 19 May 1941, Page 2

WAR ON THE PUKEKO

DESCRIBED AS PERSECUTION Members of the Forest and Bird Protection Society are asking for a stop page of the persecution of the pukeko, the beautiful bird which is also known as the swamp-hen. It is claimed that the pukeko has the right to live in its native country. In 1928-29. at the request of the Forest and Bird Protection Society, the Department of Internal Affairs conducted a stomach survey of the pukeko in localities of the Manawatu, North Canterbury, Otago, and Southland districts. Altogether, 63 birds were examined, and the results showed that their diet was not one to cause worry to farmers or sportsmen. The contents of the stomachs were usually macerated vegetation and seeds of grass and weeds. In Cheviot. North Canterbury, where pukeko were alleged to be causing damage to stacks, j four were killed, but no grain was found inside them. Similarly, ten birds taken in the vicinity of cropping areas in Otago had no grain in their stomachs. Two, shot in an oat-field of Southland, had stalks and heads of weeds and other vegetation in their stomachs, but no oats were seen. That brilliant naturalist, the late Mr H. Guthrie-Smith, was a warm admirer of the pukeko, to which he paid worthy tribute in his book, “Birds of the Water. Wood, and Waste.” At Tutira he reared one named “Budget” which had been spilt from a nest when it was about two days old. When "Budget” was about eleven weeks, three new pukeko chicks were brought in by one of the station children, and were given to a broody hen, which took a helpful inter- j est in them. However, the chicks were j really adopted by “Budget” which fed j them regularly and generously. “In 1 a few days,” wrote Mr Guthrie-Smith.! “the chicks were allowed full freedom J —the hen still penned in her coop—and j would then sometimes wander from her cover and follow ’Budget’ in a desul ! tory sort of way. About the third day ' to our amazement, he began to feed them, and ever since has been a most j devoted nurse. His is a real labour of love, for when called up and given a caterpillar or other dainty, he runs off 1 at once and presents it to one of the I chicks. Should it be too large, his bill ! is used for its crushing and maceration, or sometimes the morsel is held in his j claw and torn up for the little ones. His lonely cry, too, ceased altogether and was replaced by the gentle feeding note that calls up the cheepers. This latter cry, by the way, was not developed at once. At first ‘Budget’ always carried food to the chicks, but later he expected them to come to him, though such is the dear fellow’s love for his small charges that he can suffer no long delay, and should anything pre- I vent their immediate appearance, will still carry to one of them, the blue hop per moth, the spindley daddy-long-legs, or the slimy, succulent caterpillar. Even when we know him to be hungry it u never himself who is first fed. and the distribution of the chopped meat pukekos love is a quaint spectacle. One of us presents it. bit by bit, to ’Budget’ who duly passes it on to one or another of his little troop till they are gorged. 1 standing round the dish replete, like sated cobras, and their small tummies tight as very drums.” ! ! j