NATURE NOTES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LIV, Issue 16467, 17 February 1917, Page 5 (Supplement)

NATURE NOTES.

. ? -/ i. ? • > _?•• BY J. DBTTMMOMi, P.LSvF.Z.S. A small bine penguin, which came into the hands of Mr. E. J. Haynes, taside:rmist at Canterbury Museum, some weeks ago, was bleeding profusely from the neck. The blood had run down over the feather:?, which were stained red, in contrast with tneir natural whiteness. He thought that the bird had received a deep wound, but when he examined it closely he found amongst the scale-like feathers several parasitical creatures, each about the si?,e of a large pea, which were sucking tie penguin's life blood. They were so bu?v pumping themselves full of blood and fo eager to gorge themselves at their horrib e repast that he had to use some force to dislodge them. He preserved them in spirits and an examination shows that they are members of a notorious parasitical race, the tiue ticks, classed in scientific literature as the ixodes, a word which means that they have a form like birdlime, strongly adhesive. They are repulsive in both habits and appearance. Mr. Haynes' specimens originally were a French grey colour; but when they reached me they had turned blood red, having taken on the tint of their deeds. Their protruding beaks are equipped with, mandibles, shaped like recurved hooks. With these formidable weapons they had fastened on to the penguin, thrusting their beaks into the integument. In view of the astonishing strength of their grip it is surprising that the detached heads, or at lea>3t the mandibles, were not left behind in the skin when ther were removed. To the penguin which had the misfortune to be the object of their attentions they must have given agonising pain. They apparently belong to the same snecies of ticks as some found in the same part of a crested penguin by Mr. A. Reischek, an Austrian naturalist, in Dusky Sound in 1885. Mr. W. M. Maskell, to whom they were submitted for examination, gave them the name Idoxes eudyptidis. A few years later Mr. T. W. Kirk discovered a tide with similar characters otf a wandering albatross. This tick, also, had seized on the bird's neck. True to the instincts of its species, it had embedded itself so firmly in the skin that Mr. Kirk found it impossible to remove the creature without the loss of several of its limbs. He named it Ixodes Maskelli, in honour of- Mr. Maskell. In 1897 two more specimens were sent to Mr. Maskell. One, sent by Sir Walter Buller, had fastened on to a North Island kiwi' at Mount Egmont, the other, sent by Sir James Hector, on to a South Island kiwi, at Dusky Sound. The first, which was a dirty white colour or very pale buff, was named Ixodes apteridis, and the second, a pale yellow, Ixodes aptericola. Some 15 years ago Mr, W. W. Smith, when curator of the Public Gardens in Ash- ■ burton, found some ticks on a „ nativa grey, duck and sent them to Dr. C. Chil- & ton, professor of biology at Canterbury College, who named them Ixodes aaatis, the duck tick. One has been reported as having fastened oh a gull. Ticks belong to- a family whose habits have not been studied very closely. It is believed that they are vegetarians at first, and later find their way on to the • animals to whom they cling, and whose •- blood they suck instead of the sap of -, plants. In five Mr. Hayes sent me. there are different sizes, from a quarter oi an ■ inch to nearly half an inch long. Tho size, apparently, depends on the quantity of food the individual has taken. Some are blown out and bloated by their . gluttony., The race is cosmopolitan, but. thrives best in the tropics, where females, sometimes, are as large as large goose- ■ berries. They seem to use their victims for food alone. They lay their eggs on the ground or under stones. In England, old and young, when in need of food, have been seen to climb the stalks of grass and shrubs. They .clasped the tips of the leaves witb their fore-limbs and stretched their hind limbs out behind. ready to catch the hairy" skin of an animal that happened to be passing through the herbage. ..The habits of New Zealand members of the family may bo identical with , the habits of. their relatives elsewhere. Cattle, sheep, dogs, deer, and snakes are victims in other countries; but all the native ticks reported in New Zealand have infested birds. In Persia tbsy have an ally, known locally as the poisonous bug of Miona, whose bite, according . , to the statements of 1 natives, produces ' • - convulsions, delirium, and death. ". f; >'. Mr. H. Jackson, of Invercargill, has /; made inquiries as to the name and habiti' of a bird which, evidently, is 'the shear-, water, one of the petrels. It is slaty black on top and white beneath, with a dark horn-coloured bill Like other . petrels, shearwaters, make their nests in burrows in soft soil. According to obser- . . vations recorded by Mr. ,Reischek,' 1 tiny. come ashore to clean out their old newts' or to make fresh ones in September. They x die with their bills, and push out the'' p soil with their feet. They, work all day and leave for the sea after sunset. The burrow seems to be made on the same principles afl that of the black petrel, the dusky bird of the Auckland district, which ■" makes uncanny noises in the night. 'The ; burrow is from a and a-half to three ' '■ feet long, with a chamber at the end. A few 'leaves are spread on the bottom of the chamber, and' in it the ; female lays one white egg. She sits during the day. Her mate usually spends the ' day at ' sea; but returns to relieve her soon after 1 sun- r . set. This is continued until the young birds are a few days old. ' Both parents then absent themselves during the day,' but return after sunset to feed their young with an oily fluid, which they _ disgorge. The young birds are fully* grown in March( when thev leave their homes for the ocean. - The black petrel is seldom seen in the South Island, but the shearwater i? more common in the South Island than in the North Island. It is an Australian as well as a New Zealander. Its scientific name is Puffinus gavia, and its Maori name hakoakoa. The Rev. Oscar Blundell, of Te Aroha, has s-jnt a photograph of a rata, _ Metrosideros robusta, growing on a puriri, Viter lueens. The photograph was taken on the Little Barrier Island, and he states that the combination of the two plants is common on the island and on the mainland. Close to the beach at Witton's Bay, Tawharunui Point, there is a large puriri embraced by a well-grown pohutu- ( kawa, Metrosidero tomentosa, in the tiue rate fashion. . He believes that other «x----amples of the combination may be found in the same locality. On a point of land at Christian's Bay there is a pohutukawa flourishing on the top of a puriri. Its descending root-stem, apparently, is contained in the bottom trunk of the puriri,although there Is no signs of it Mr. Blundell. on the evidence obtained, concludes that Metrosideroo tomentosa, like its cousin, Metrosideros robusta, occasionally grows as an epiphyte. Mr. Blundell says in his note: '* I hone soon to be able to send you a photograph of a riant rata, which stands on a ridge near Pahoittia. The great tree, unfortunately, is dead, but, like the wolf in 'Llewellyn,' it is 'tremendous still in death.