OUR FLORA AND FAUNA.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIV, Issue 13522, 21 August 1907, Page 4

OUR FLORA AND FAUNA.

■■ i NEW ZEALAND'S PRICELESS }' HERITAGE, I ~- ■ ;':: v. DR. . COCKAYNE ON NATURE STUDY. -'•' ■ . ' . fe\ : . Dr. Cockayne, the eminent botanist, is at present visting Auckland on his way to the ' North. He is to do certain research work in the interests of the Government, and will * devote much time to the Waipoua State * . forest, situated between Kaihu and Hokianga. In course of conversation with a ';'~ representative of the Herald yesterday, Dr. Cockayne referred to several matters relative to the fauna and flora of New Zeaf land, which are of considerable interest to £,;..■ students of natural history, and, although i.' in a lesser degree, to the unscientific lover of nature as well. Nature study in the schools .was referred to in connection with r the senseless desire, so often painfully manifested among the young people of New Zealand, to kill—to kill plant or bird, but, at ,' any rate, to kill something in the bush. Dr. Cockayne made it very clear that whatever he had to say would not apply to sportsmen, in the right sense of the word, '," ' for the true sportsman has as much revertv'". ence for wood craft as any other lover of ':• nature. "But what caD we think of a N man of this sort asked the doctor. "I I v was recently visiting Stewart Island, and |£ there was a so-called sportsman, on the cutter in which I was a passenger, who spent \ his time in shooting that most beautiful >- bird, the Stewart Island shag. He could not have done so for the sake of protecting the trout, for there are no trout there to protect; moreover, the sea in this locality abounds with fish; he did not do so for the J ' sake of procuring specimens. No, it was I" merely for the sake of something to kill; ;£..' just for the pleasure of taking life. These ? , shags on Stewart Island-can do no possible H harm, and the sea fish that they eat are pC;:> infinitesimal when compared with the great m abundance in the neighbouring waters." PROTECTING RARE VISITORS. Dr. Cockayne was asked if he did not ; think some protection should bo afforded to rare visitants to New Zealand, and wheel ther cetaceans, of no commercial value, which occasionally came into the quiet bays of the colony, and rare birds, which some- ! times visited New Zealand from Australia 1 • and the Islands, should not be equally cared for? • '■".-■ ~,• Al .. "Undoubtedly," he replied, ''animals, 'i such as seals, rare birds, etc., should be encouraged, to come here, and they must be protected by law. If we offer them an * . asylum they will learn the fact soon enough. §&■■ As it is now, any rare bird that is seen in ,''' • New Zealand is at once shot. We cannot :':,. tell how much more attractive our bush and : seashore would be were we to allow these wanderers to settle." . H The unhattpy seals which were liberated at New Brighton, after having been shown at the Exhibition, were then referred to, and Dr. Cockayne had something to' say I . about them which is entitled to resnect, coming from one who was instruments? in the animals being brought to Christchurch. "I know all about those seals," he said, '':, > "for it was I who asked Captain Bollons to 3'- . secure 1 them. - They proved one 'of the TV • ' greatest attractions of the Exhibition. i' There were four liberated at New Brighton, i.' . one being a feniale and three males. There '■ ' was some %lk about them "destroying fish in the Waimakariri estuary, and soon after|if;-: wards one unfortunate creature was found 1 on New Brighton beach so shockingly maimed "that it had. to be shot by the Society for I the "Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, to put-'it out of its misery." H r SEALS IN NEW ZEALAND.

I SSl? "Do you think if seals felt assured thai they -would not be molested they would haunt rocks near such popular places of re«ort as Sumner in somewhat the same way '< in which they disport on the Seal Rocks at San 'Francisco?" "Well, originally, seals were in abundance in many parts of New Zealand, but a great' deal of poaching goes on in the neighbourhood of Stewart Island, and on the West Coast. There are still considerable numbers of fur seals in the western ■ part of the South Island, and notably on the promontory known as the Cascade Rocks, in South Westland. There has been aD attempt made to take them to Resolution Island, the southern sanctuary in Dusky Sound, so that the West Coast Sounds may once more be peopled by these interesting mammals. I may -say that the fur seals are on the increase in the Bounty Islands, ' 'where I saw myself, on the occasion of my last visit to "be group, at least 20 seals basking on the smooth granite rocks. These ,' beautiful animals only need to be left alone v ' , fo become re-established in our waters, and - ' if they, were they certainly would add very -I. ..-.' materially^to the interest of a visit to the bays and sounds." l' . - "The small bird question was referred to, and Dr. Cockayne was asked if he thought '■' " the. hostility by the farmer to the small bird was justified, and whether, if the birds m did eat grain and fruit, they did not pay for their keep in respect to checking insect pests? . / NATIVE AND IMPORTED BIRDS. "Well," he remarked, "we have only the ->". rough and ready statements made by farmers themselves to go upon at present. I k : -v- - think the birds do a very great deal of "•\ ' . damage— in one direction and some in another. With regard to the birds introjfr duced into New Zealand, it is very clear • that we cannot have introduced birds and lative birds at the same time. They cannot live side by aide in perfect amity, for one must consume the food of the other. $'■'■ The struggle for existence is the law of all laws throughout the whole animal and * plant* world. "Last year I made a botanical survey of Kapiti Island, a sanctuary for v ■ native plants and birds, in Cook Straits, /.' • and I recommended very strongly the eraIt dication of the Californian quail on that V ' ' island. 'It is only possible for the special Y berry-bearing i plants -to*, support a certain tfRK amount of bird life, and you car judge for yourself, which should have the first consideration: the unique birds of our own ;<■ land "'or' the birds introduced from other

countries." '■}'■ I "But if the wholesale poisoning of small I birds is carried out in both town and country, is not the native bird likely to suffer? Moreover, would it not bo well, before such, a step is taken, for the Go- ; vernment have • also the counsel of . scientific me: 1 as well as the experiences Df farmers to guide them in this matter?" " You . hav'l* inferred to a phase of the .'question whish appears to have been entirely overlooked," replied Dr. Cockayne. - Non-scientific men occasionally talk a lot : of nonsense about the small bird question. £ There' is very little definitely known at present about it, and it is a very big problem; -one fchit needs to; be most carefully dealt With, for up to the present we have not got any definite scientific evidence as to the damage that, the small birds do, although . I aia prepared,to admit that the fanner would regard me as a heretic for making a *tj,tement of that kind. At ? the same time there is little v doubt but that'the birds'' are altogether too numerous, and methods for checking their increase are imperative." / SCENERY AND VEGETATION.

The flora peculiar to New Zealand was next referred : to, and here Dr. Cockayne Jk ; was manifestly in his element; "Scenery," !p£€£he;-Baidi".' using the somewhat commercial description adopted by the Tourist Department, "is one of our greatest assets; but such features as mountains, plains, ravines, ( ;; valleys, and so on, are pretty much the same all ovw the world, the only differM ence in the scenery of the different countries being determined by the plant covering and not by the land-forms. The plantt covering of New Zealand is almost unique, so fai as the temperate regions go. Our forests are i.'ssentially tropical 'orests, and >' ' our, mount arts are distinguished by an assortment ii magnificent alpine plants, dif-

ferent from those of any other though in their outward forms more or less related to those of the Ande3. "To destroy these plants," continued Dr. Cockayne, "is to destroy the special features of the scenery of the forests and mountain-meadows of New Zealand. What does a traveller see on landing at any of our seaports, and- on visiting our principal towns? He tees, not what should be New Zealand plants, but, rather, he renews acquaintance with old and familiar plants of Europe, and he discovers that our native vegetation is almost gone, i.e., from the vicinity of our larger centres of population, and European plants meet his gaze everywhere. Now, this question of scenery is by no means merely a geographical one. The form of any plant depends in large measure upon the climate and the soil, and these acting on the protoplasm of the plant cause modifications of its structure to arise which are specially adapted to its surroundings, and thus it is that peculiar life forms come into existence. From this it may be seen that scenery is not a merely geographical matter, but also a biological expression. Yes, its flora is certainly one of New Zealand's greatest assets, and the scenery of this and every other country depends upon two things, (1) the geological history of the country, and (2) its vegetation. You can now see why so much importance is to be attached "to nature study in the schools. Wo wish to improve the morality of the people with regard to the destruction of animals and plant life, and the only way to do' that is by training the children to care for these things, to treasure their priceless heritage of a distinctive and peculiar fauna and flora, and, if the nature-study movement does no more than that, I think you will agree with me that it has justified its existence."