NATURE NOTES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LVI, Issue 17234, 9 August 1919, Page 1 (Supplement)

NATURE NOTES.

BX J. DBOTCIICSKO, SJtA., I.ZJ,

Interesting notes on the habits of the grey kiwi, Apertyx Oweni of ornithologists, have been sent by Mr. EL F. Chaffey, who, near the wild and unfrequented head-waters of the Takaka River, in the Ghost Creek district, Nelson Province, has enviable opportunities for becoming acquainted with this species where its foot is on its native heath. Ho states that each pair of grey kiwis has two separate camping places, and that they work between the camps, presumably for facilities in obtaining food, but possibly to disconcert their natural enemies. '* They camp at one place for about a fortnight or longer," Mr. Chaffey says, "and then work to the other place and stay there for a term. This habit has been noted by other prospectors and miners, as well as by me. The eggs are not laid in either of the usual haunts, but in a place some distance from them, much more accessible."

Yellow -heads, or bush «ma.i-fr« are plentiful in Mr. Chaffev's district They are so tame that he "finds no difficulty m studying their habits. About & dozen came around him the day before he wrote his letter, on July 1L There was only one at first, but when he stopped to whistle to it others appeared from all directions. They soon surrounded him, " talking and chatting, and coming to within two yards of me." He continues: '* They do not follow you when you leave, but if you stand still they will stay about you for quite a long time. There is no doubt as to their feeding young long-tailed cuckoos. In January last, when I was walking along the track i from our house to Ghost Creek, several days in succession, I heard the cries of a young bird for food, and the chattering of yellow-heads. As I could see some distance, I waited. The cries continued, and the yellow-heads kept on flying backwards and forwards fairly high in a young red beech tree. As soon as I drew closer the cries ceased, and the yeliowheadfi—there were eight or nine of them— stayed away from that place. A few days later, when I had a little more time to spare, finding the yellow-heads still busy, but further down in the scrub, I clambered over- some logs. In a deep little hollow in thick scrub sat ait Cuckoo. The yellow-heads were all around but were keeping a short distance off. About a week previously the same taing happened near the house-bridge over the Takaka River, also in a rid beech, which had a lot of mistletoe in it. There were the same cries from the young cuckoo, maintained almost incessantly, and yellow-heads were scurrying backwards and forwards, but I could not get a glimpse, of the nest or of the old cuckoo.

A stranger at Ghost Creek does no* come within the descriptions of any New Zealand birds, and Mr. Chaffey finds difficulty in identifying it. "It has a very pleasant little song, which it sings to us every morning, always sitting on the same manuka bush ia front of. our eottage. It is a small but rather plump bird, with a bluish grey breast and a' email head and bill; its back is dark ™f wn ». ver 7 clearly and definitely streaked with lighter brown, turning- almost to yellow; its tail, which its its most distinguishing characteristic, is long and very neat, and at the end is like a c.ear-cnt W; it hops like a thrush, when it feeds on the ground, which we have not seen it do very often } it repeats its notes about six times at' intervals. For a j long time we thought that there was only I one bird; it sat on the top of that parocular manuka;hash, /and,. if '. disturbed dived straight down into the 'bash instead of flying away* Now, however, a mate » there, but np to the present time it remams well hidden below, while the first one sits right on the top. lids morning, July 11, a chaffinch flew to the manuka bush when the strangers were there, but the one on top quickly drove '* ays/- Wo think that the strangers are English birds or wanderers."

They aw, evidently, hedge-sparrows, whmh jomed the company of native birds in the wooded mountains and gullies where Mr. and Mrs. Cbaffey Ave. The species was introduced into New Zealand nearly fifty years ago, sad in this Dominion, as well as in the Old Country, it has earned golden opinions not only because it does-much good and no harm, but also because it has * pleasant song and manners. "The male's song," an English writer says, "is like his character, very sweet and unobtrusive being, in fact, a low warble, wandering through its incoasemtive measures without any marked phrases or pauses." Mr W. H. Hudson, one of the ablest living writers on British birds, says that " among our . small birds the hedgesparrow is regarded with some slight 'degree of teat kindly feeling, of favouritism, which is extended to the robin, the swallow, and the martin; it is one of the few delicate little birds that brave the rigours of an English winter sad occasionally enliven that dead season with their melody."

It has been explained in this column previously that the hedge-sparrow is not a sparrow. The sparrow is aahard-billed bird; the hedge-sparrow is a soft-billed bird. The hedge-sparrow belongs to the f aneOTlp M tba grey-warbler, the native tom-trts, and the native robins. Amongst its British connections are the gongthrush, the nightingale, and robin redbreast. In the Old Country it is sometimes known as the dusnock, and, on account of a habit of frequently shuffling its wings, as the shuffiewing. Oraxthologically, it ha Accentor modularis. Some ornithologists have tried to bring about the discarding of the incorrect popular name of this bird, but unsuccessfully. The fact, that Shakespeare used it is accepted by many people as sufficient reason why it should be retained. It seems to have become part of the English language and, probably, as long as! the English language lasts, it wffl associate a bird that possesses singularly sweet characteristics with another bird which has few friends. The hedge-sparrow's nest often * found in hedges or in shrubs three off four feet from the ground. The nest is round, neat, compact, warm, and cosy. Moss is largely used in it, and the interior usually is lined with horsehair. Pour, five, and six eggs, unspotted, are laid. They are, according to different authorities, blue, greenish, bluish-green, or greenish-blue. Peasants fax the Old Country accept the discovery of these beautiful eggß as a sure sign that spring is coming, for the ' hedge-sparrow is one of the first birds to begin domestic duties. While Use female hatches the eggs the male untiringly brings to her flies, caterpillars, and other* insects; he never slackens in his loving care. New ■Zealand cuekoos, as well as cuckoos in the Old Country, find the # edge-sparrow a complacent foster-parent for their young, and amongst th bluish eggs occasionally may be found the larger, longer, uglier brownish olive egg of a shining cuckoo or a long-tailed cuckoo.

A correspondent at Balclutha, OJago, has sent an account of his experiences with a pair of paradise docks, which very cleverly, by antics and actions, hired him away from their nest and young. This characteristic in the paradise dock has been noted by several observers. The birds sometimes pretend to be lame and unable to rise from the ground, but when the stranger has been led a safe distance away they rise on the wing. Mr. W. T. L. Travers heard adults give danger signals to their young, which immediately went to the nearest flowing water and floated down close to the hank, seeking cover and availing themselves with- great sagacity of every shelter sad eangiwfeiaat/:.'.