THE GOD WITS OF SPIRITS BAY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXIII, Issue 10319, 19 December 1896, Page 1 (Supplement)

THE GOD WITS OF SPIRITS BAY.

Under tho above title, the English Illustrated Magazine publishes a most graphic and interesting article on the migration of the godwit, or kuaka, from. New Zealand to Siberia. We do not supposo that many of our readers were awaro that this bird, which is common on all the coasts of the North Island during.the summer, flies away in the winter months and breeds in the extreme north of Siberia. It is not many years ago since the fact- was discovered, but it is now ascertained without doubt, and is fully dealt ' with by Sir W. Bullet- in his great work ■ on,the birds of New Zealand. It is singular that the kuaka, if it wants a cold country to breed in, should not go to the Antarctic rogions, but wings its long flight to near the North Pole, crossing tho Equator and traversing the tropical regions of Asia. In the old days, the Maoris noticed that tho bird did not breed here, and it became a proverb, " Who has seen the nest of the Kuaka?" In 1868, Mr. Dale observed two specimens at Kullik, in Alaska. Sir Walter Buller, in referring to tho subject, says: "To my mind, in the whole romance of natural history, there is nothing to be compared with this astonishing migration. The following is the article of the English Illustrated Magazine . As New Zealand approaches its northern extroraity the narrow neck of high flat land sinks away to a wilderness of sandhills, and then, as if rebounding like a ball, suddenly springs upwards, to culminate in a bold headland which comes down sheer into deep water. This headland is Te Reinga, the earthly, portal, according to the belief of the old New Zealander, by which disembodied spirits entered the realms of the dead. Eastward of this promontory is a bay— •Spirits Bay—girded with sand. The place poetically takes its name from tho old Maori superstition. At night, when the natives . heard the rustle of tho wings of some belated bird passing overhead, they whispered to one another that a spirit was passing to its rest. It is a wild spot, swept by eternal winds. No habitation of man is to bo seen, no pathway to be found; to the imagination it is just the sort of place where, at the end of the world, the last New Zealander would bo likely to bo found, cowering ovor a few smouldering embers, waiting for death.

' But it is nob from an anciont superstition of a race that is passing away that this dreary and inhospitable place derives its principal interest. It possesses an attraction far stronger than this to fix our attention. For fifty weeks in the year it is noglectod and empty, the intense solitude which broods over all things seeming a presence in the air. Then, of a sudden, whon March is drawing towards a close', it springs, as if by magic, into a fever of lifo, and becomes the scene of one of tho most remarkable sights in nature. Of all the spots to see the kuaka fly from the shores of New Zealand, Spirits Bay is the 'best. In autumn at the Antipodes flocks of kuaka, in numbers of fifty to ono thousand, flying always in the form of a crescent, may be seen branding up tho coast towards Te Reinga. The stream is so continuous that it is remarked even by those who cQiicorn themselves little about such matters. Beforo April is three days old they have collected upon the sands of Spirits Bay in countless numbers, preparatory to their long flight to Asia. Some years ago I witnessed the departure of the kuaka. lb was a scene upon which my memory lingers. I made the latter part of the journey in tempestuous Weather, a heavy rain being drifted into my face by a strong northerly wind. As 1 stumbled across the bolt of sandhills which [ringed tho shore, a strange sound, 'that half oppressed and half soothed tho 'qar/bociiiiie fitfully audible—a sound which, when' a little later a gust of wind caught it and troughs ib to mo in greaer., volume, drowned.for' a moment the moaning of the. soa. Ib to bo a ; chorus of querulous cries proceeding from innumerable little throats, and, racing up tho lasb ridge of sand which lay between me and the bay, I stood looking at the sight I had come so far to see. The beach was literally covered with kuaka; they soemed to be all indiscriminately huddled together whore there was no room for half the number, while thousands were hover' ing overhead in a vain abtompt to find a footing, .or were trampling upon the backs of their fellows in tho hope of ousting them from their places. From time to time the breaking surges sent tho salt spray leaping far towards the land whereat a grey cloud went whirling into the air with deafening clamour, bo discharge itself again, after a few momenta of rapid variation in density, upon the sands, What with the lowering clouds, the wild and stormy ocean, the low, mournful sound which the wind drew from tho thin, wiry grass of the sandhills, with the swarm of birds which looked like grey billows in convulsion, it was altogether a peculiar and an interesting sight; and, natural though it was, it seemed unnatural. During the afternoon flocks of kuaka kept pouring into the buy, each new lot adding to the mad unrest which made all the atmosphere. As the day wore on the wind veered round to the west, the clouds fell asunder, bho rain ceased, and a watery sun pressed softly out and tinged the sky and sea and land with a faint silvery lustre. Sunset by the shore is always a solemn time, and as tho brief day drew towards its close, I forgot the birds in the poetry and beauty of the hour. I was recalled to practical matters by a sudden and violent ferment among the kuaku. Frequently they rose with a mighty rustle of beating pinions. After circling about in the air in an agitated And undecided manner, they settled again, At length, just as the Run was dipping into tho sea, an old cock uttered a strident call, clarion clear, and shot straight into the air, followed by an incalculable feathered multitude. Higher and higher rose the host until ib was but a stain in the sky. At this stupendous altitude— a moment of time, as ib soemod— loader shaped his course due north, and the stain melted into the night. It was very impressive. Thero was something of tho solemnity of a parting about it. In this manner, and for ten days, flocks of kuaka continually arrive at and depart from Spirits Bay. At the expiration of that time the fleeting scene is closed, nothing remaining but a few scattered feathers to show that'* it once existed. We pre not able bo follow it in its flight, but conscientious observers have noted its progress up the coast of Asia, and thoy tell us thet in the first days of June the kuaka has reached a latitude in frigid Siberia as high as 74 degrees .north. With the coming of August— meanwhile reared its • brood— begins tho voyage to its southern home. As the young birds are at this time incapable of an extended flight, it returns much more leisurely than it went. On the way back, it touches at •many of the numerous clusters of islands in the three zones of the Pacific Ocean. The spring sunshine at the end of October welcomes the wanderers home to Te Reinga. the following April, at the same time as that of the previous year, even upon the same day— this is a circumstance full of interest, for the advent and departure of migrants is in every other case regulated by the forwardness or lateness of the season, as the case may be—the kuaka again collects upon the sands of Spirits Bay, to fly away to Asia. .. • >• ■'