NATURE NOTES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LVIII, Issue 17853, 6 August 1921, Page 1 (Supplement)

NATURE NOTES.

BY J. DSUMMOND, F.L.S., F.Z.S.

A visitor to South Westland, who spent a few days at Lake Kanieri, saw on and near the lake a fairly large number of birds which, evidently from his'description, are crested grebes. They are graceful swimmers and divers. It is regrettable, also, that only two N*ew Zealand naturalists have given any attention whatever to the habits of these birds in this country. They belong to the same species as the crested grebes of the Old Country, which have been under observation of Selous, Hudson, and other eminent ornithologists. (Recent information on the courtship of crested grebes, supplied by Professor J. S. Huxley, Texas, shows the extraordinary rich field for delightful study these birds afford in New Zealand, as well as in England. Professor Huxley did not use a camera. He had a pair of powerful binoculars, a telescope, a pencil, paper, and a punt on the (pnng R-eser-voirs—they are four large sheets of water on the estate of Lord Rothschild, Hertfordshire, England—and two weeks' leisure. With these facilities he noted sufficient details to fill a fairly largo volumeSome of the scenes he describes are very quaint. A solitary hen alighted on the shore of one reservoir, and began to swim to the opposite shore, looking 'rom side to side, and giving short barking calls. The ruff on the top of her head had been thrown forward in curtain form, and, as the head had been thrust forwards and backwards, swept the water on each side. She soon put down her ruff, and raised her neck until it was almost straight, in order to enlarge her circle of vision. She tli en relaxed into her first position, with neck outstretched.

She changed from one position to another, until a male, some thirty yards away, seemed to notice her. He pricked, up his neck, looked towards her, and dived. Her whole demeanour then changed. Up went her wings, and back between them, with erected ruff, went her head. In this position, a beautiful white bar and a broad white blaze on the wing shone out vividly. Her head from the front somewhat resembled an old-fashioned picture of the sun. As she waited for the male's reappearance, she turned eagerly from side to side, swinging nearly to the right-about and back again, as if not to miss him. He came up on the far sidte of her, in the most amazing attitude. He seemed to grow suddenly out of the water. First came his head, with the ruff almost circular, the bill pointing down along the neck in, a stiff and peculiar manner; then the neck, quite straight and vertical; then the body, straight and vertical also; finally the whole bird, except for a few inches was standing erect in the water like a hypnotised phantom of a slender penguin. As he grew out of the water, he gradually revolved on his long axis until, at his full height, he came face to face with the female. Prom his stiff, erect position, he sank slowly to the surface. The female put down her wings and raised her neck. The pair then settled down to a bout of head-shaking. They gradually drifted apart, and went off together to preen themselves and to i fish.

Crested grebes 6eem to be strictly diurnaL Observers ■watched on the reservoirs all night, but during the dark hours, the grebes were neither seen nor heard. In the early morning, at the first showing of the false dawn, a few called, and other species of birds shows signs of activity. In spite of the fact that they are active during only daylight, grebes spend many hours of the day resting or sleeping. One of the grebes caught a very large fish, and tried to swallow it in the usual way, by jerking its head first down the grebe's throat. The fish was too large to swallow. Afterf much fruitless jerking, the grebe had to put he fish out into the water. The fish, which was still alive, swam off. This was too much for the grebe, which dived, caught the fish again, and once more tried to swallow it. The fish was caught and put out four times. On the fifth occasion, it escaped. Each time, the made fewer efforts to swallow it, and finally relinquished the attempt, showing that it profited by experience.

Male and female in this species, apparently play almost equal parts in all activities connected with the family. The male takes an equal share in building the nest, and almost an equal share in incubation and in the early care of the young, -which later on pass into the care of only one parent, probably the female. The nest seems to be made mainly of weeds brought from the bottom. Surface weeds also are used, and of large Waterlogged sticks, which may be -anchors. As a further means of steadying the nest, some of the weeds are woven amongst the stems of water-plants. The main bulk of the nest is built in a few hours. In this very active builuing, male and female work simultaneously. They work very hard, averaging between them moTe than two cargoes of weeds every minute, and continuing for half an hour or an hour without stopping. After one nest has been completed", another may be begun and almost completed the following day, not far off. In one instance, the male, while each nest was being built, made a platform for himself close to the bank not far from the nest that was in progress.

Part of the tail of a sting-ray—stinga-ree, popularly—found on the beach rear the mouth of the Waipaoa River, a few miles from Gisborne, and sent to mo as a i curio, brings to mind the fact that for centuries there was difference of opinion amongst naturalists as to -whether the wounds made by sElng-rays axe mere mechanical lacerations, or are poisonous. Even a modern work like the " Cambridge Natural History " leaves the question open. There is a good deal of evidence of j the presence of poison-gland in a sting- : say's sting. It is a triangular gland, composed mostly of fine mesh. When the sting is inserted in the wound, there is pressure on the gland. It emits a poisonous liquid, which flows through a narrow groove to the tip of the sting, and inoculates the wound. The nature of the i poison is not known, but the symptoms of I acute pain and inflammation axe similar j to the symptoms caused by the stings of j other venomous fish. A ycung man, who i received a very small puncture when he | was passing a sting-ray to another person, i became pale, and fell down senseless for | a few minutes. Four sting-rays and | three turtles were placed in the great tank of the Naples Aquarium. One of the sting-rays died. It was found that its ! sting had broken off and disappeared. A few days later, one of the turtles refused to eat, and stayed in a corner of the tank. It lived in that condition for four days, and then died. The sting of the dead sting-ray was buried in its right limb, having pierced only the skin and muscles The tissue near where the sting was buried was violet. The wound was about an inch and a-hrJf long, and contained liquid with a very offensive smell.

Mr. A. McCabe has drawn attention to the fact that an albino kingfisher reported recently is not the first albino ol that species found in New Zealand. Mr. A. T. Pycroft reported in 1898 that he had obtained a perfect albino kingfisher in the Bay of. Islands.