NATURE NOTES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LI, Issue 15748, 24 October 1914, Page 3 (Supplement)

NATURE NOTES.

DT JAIfES DRVMMOND, F.L.S. P.Z.S. Vkbt littlo is known of tho Now Zealand merganser, and those who go down to tho Auckland Islands, where this bird lives, would do good service to tho Dominion by observing and recording its habits. In scientific literature it is Mergus Australia, tho southern merganser, and it is closely related '" the goosander, Mergus merganser, of the Old Country. It is seldom seen in the coastal and open waters around vho Auckland Islands, but spends most 0 f its tune in tho sheltered harbours and the. streams and creeks, where it obtains its food. In general appearanco it resembles a dink. As a matter of fact, it belongs to the eider of the ducks, swans, and geese, the Lamellirostres. The generaJ colour of its variegated plumage is irk gtey, with prey and white transverse markings < n the breast, but tho head and reek are brown, and there is a tinge of rufous mi the throat and lower neck. Thf-e is '* white band on tho wing. Tho b :; .5 dnk nh\e, the legs and feet aro oranc. '■•' • }"'• is dark, and there is a •j;.:fJ ■ r ■'■ on the head. Altogether, the ni'-rci i" a very elegant bird. Its ni.'S> '• •' ib!< rh.itacter, however, is its hi' I!:." is equipped with a series of very distinct tooth-like serrations, like tho teeth on i saw. They are on tho edges of both hides. At first tho bill seems to he i pupped with teeth. It is the closest rereinbhince amongst living birds to a toothed Li.. ; hut examination shows thai (he . haracter is not associated in any wav with teeth, as there is a complete absence of dental

For perhaps one hundred years or more anatomists have looked for traces of teoth in birds Teeth aro so characteristic of vertebrate animals that it is strango to find ouc of the most important classes devoid nf them From time to time, tho icicnttfic world is interested, if not st:'tied, by a report that teeth at last have been traced in a bird. Further investigations, however, have disclosed only a superficial resemblance to the germs of teem. This does not destroy the theory that buds generally once wore equipped with teeth. The. reptilian-like Archeopteryx, which belonged to the Jurassic period, and which was found in a fossil condition in Bavaria, had about 30 strong teeth. Two other birds that have been dismissed from the universe, hesperornis and ichthyornis, had exceptionally good gets of teeth. Archeopteryx was a land bird, living amongst tho trees that grew in Europe somo six millions of years ago. Hesperornis and ichthyornis were sea, birds. They lived in vast North American seas in tho Cretaceous period, four millions of years ago, and in habits and structure they approached fairly close to the merganser of these times.

The southern merganser is in tho same position sa the tiy in tho amDer. The wonder is how it got there. Tho merganser family is essentially northern. In the United Kingdom, in addition to tho goosander, there are the red-breasted merganser and the smew, and in North America there is one species, the hooded merganser. Tho only other mergansers are a species in Brazil and the New Zealand species, which has not been reported outside tho boundaries ef the Auckland Islands. No mergansers are found between the lonely Auckland Islands, in the Southern Ocean, and Brazil on one hand and the northern hemisphere on tho other hand. This is an extraordinary geographical distribution. There seems to be no explanation at present of the fact that members of the genus should be separated by countries and continents, and live as far apart almost as the Poles are asunder, without inhabiting the intervening lands. '1 nc southern merganser has been protected for many years but even when it might be killed with impunity few specimens found their way into public or private bird collections. The first specimen ■was taken to Europe by the naturalist? on Dumont D'Urville'a Antarctic expedition, which touched at the Auckland Islands nearly 75 years ago. The skin they brought back was placed in the .Museum of Paris and for many years was the onlv one known. About 30 years ago Baron Von Hugel bought a pair of skins in Invercargill from a man who had returned from a surveying trip to the Auckland Islands. When the Earl of Ranfurly visited the islands in 1904 he obtained several very beautiful specimens, which now are in the British Museum. There aro specimens in the Otago, Canterbury, and Wellington Museums. The Hon. W. Rothschild hag three in his very famous museum at Tri'ig, England, there is one specimen in the University Museum at Cambridge, and there are two in (he Imperial Museum at Vienna.

Recent reports show that the bird now is rare even in places it delights to haunt. I* is some time since news was received of a living specimen having been seen. The flightless duck of the Auckland Islands, on the other liand. seems still to he fairly plentiful. This is a true duck, but its wings aro so short that it can lly only feebly. There was a belief for many years that it was absolutely flightless, but Captain BolJons, of tho Tutanekai, who has had many opportunities of observing these ducks, states that they can fly to their nests, which are made in holes. These holes, sometimes, are in lh: face of a cliff, often between 15ft and 20ft above sea level. He has seen tho docks rise from the ground at the foot of a cliff, and, with the. use of their wings, go into the boles, a performance which an absolutely flightless bird could not attempt. He has tried to reach the nests with a. ladder, but has been unsuccessful. To compensate for the partial loss "'■ flight, the .Auckland Island duck has learned to .limb very skilfully. Captive epecimens in Sir Walter Buller'3 possession never tried to use their wings, although they had ample opportunity to do jo. A male, however, regularly climbed hark and forth over a netting wail, going out in the morning and returning to its loato inside the enclosure in the evening.

Men never regarded the bleak, windswept Auckland Islards as a very suit«blo place of abode. The southern merganser, consequently has been given no placo in folklore, legend, or fairy tale, and, unhlti- its tonjencr of me far north, the goosander, has not entered into tho lives of human beings. The goosander, which is the largest of the three British mergansers, is more plentiful in tho western districts of .Scotland than in any ether part of tho British Isles, but in the summer it visits Scandinavia and hinds north of »ho Arctic .-.role. It has * strange breeding-place for a bird of its habits. Kg nest 11 made in the hollow trunk of a tree. Finns and Laplanders fasten to the nesting trees hollow boxes, with trapdoors behind. The birds lay in the boxes and lie eggs are taken every day, until about a score have been removed The goosander then is allowed to keep and hatch any more that may bo hud, in order that fhe will come again in the following year. If no hollow trees are available, and if no boxes are provided, the nest is made in a hole under a rock, (l 'ie goosander was known to breed in tho discarded nest of a . row in a tree. It, is stated that when the nest is at a distance from the ground the. parent bird removes the young in her bill, carrying them down fine by one, and then leading them to tho water. This is specially interesting in view of fi statement by Mr. W. Batclielor, of Nelson, in this < olumn a few weeks a go, that he had seen a paradise duck tarrying young ducks in the same way.

Tho Manchester Ship Canal Company nniiouQcfß that tho net revenue of Mio whole undertaking for tho six months «"<locl June 50 last was 1.545, against £153,513 for the first half of the preceding year, being on inrreaso of £17,952. The (,'toks receipt* of tho Ship Canal Def partment wo £21,650 larger, I Ml