NATURE NOTES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LX, Issue 18565, 24 November 1923, Page 1 (Supplement)

NATURE NOTES.

AUSTRALIAN SWALLOWS. BY 3. DHCMMOND, F.L.S., T.X.S. Mr. A. J. B~therfurd's suggestion thai Australian swallows should be introduced into New Zealand seems to meet with some approval from both the sentimental and the utilitarian points of view. Captain Oswald Schulze, Wells Street, Auckland, affectionately describes the swallow as "a pretty little fstcel-Wo# bird, with a white and brown neck-tie." , When a boy he watched it for hours, on i the ha-Tib* of rivers, fascinated by its j swift and graceful flight, six inches above < I the surface, dipping each wing altera- j j itely half an inch in the water. He , i found it even more engaging than New : Zealand's charming fantails. About sixty j | years -go, when he was on his first ! British ship, the Brinkborn. bound from I Sunderland to Cape Town, after ii had passed the Bay of Biscay and had ex- ! perienced an exceptionally heavy gale it picked up two English swallows in an exhausted state. They alighted on the deck. They did not try to fly away when men approached, and they drank water offered to them. Some of the older members of the crew suggested that 1 the stragglers would appreciate a small species of cockroach. which swarmed in the ship. Captain Schulze placed many j of them in his oil-skin and shook it out. ; Although alarmed at first, the swallows ; settled "under the oil-skin and fed on the j cockroaches greedily. They became very tame, were fed twice daily, fiew in and ' out of the quarters, a house on deck, and ; slept in the longboat. They stayed on ] board for about three weeks. leaving the j ship when it was near the coast of Africa, j | Tears later, Captain Schulze, when j engaged in the island , trade from Auck- ■ land, took two bird/ probably Mega- j podes. from Niaafoo to Tonga for the • British Consul. His experience with the , European swallows enabled him to solve ■ the problem of feeding those birds on ; board. Cockroaches were placed in 1 bottles, and the, necks of the bottles j were thrust through the bars of the cage. The cockroaches were eaten by the birds as they "crawled out. The birds' plum- j age became bright and glossy, and they ] were landed at Nukualofa, after fifteen ! days' captivity, in first-class condition. j Captain Schulze supplies • these details : to ; help in bringing swallows from Sydney j to New Zealand. In spite of pessimistic j opinions, he is convinced that the nightingale can be introduced into New Zea- J land from England. He adAs that definite | proposals were made to bring the swal- ; lows from Sydney to New Zealand about fifty years ago. A reward of £25 was offered for introducing twenty-five swallows, but, as far as he kr-ows, it was not claimed, because it was not sufficient or, because masters of vessels did not know how the birds could be carried alive across the Tasrnan Sea. Forty-nine' years ago, the Auckland Acclimatisation ■ Society imported eggs of Australian swallows, and placed them m nests of sparrows and - chaffinches, but that methods failed.. Another supporter of Mr.. Rutherford's suggestion is the Hon. G. J. Garland, M.L.C. He writes: "Australian swallows would prove very useful birds in New Zealand. They are quite harmless and very graceful; ' and they should do well here, if established, as they would fad a great variety of food. Although I have not seen swallows in New Zealand, Jimmv Mann, a Maori police officer, told me that a few had been seen at the South Waikato Heads. It would be interesting: if residents in that district kept * lookout, and reported ii swallows nest' in the limestone eaves there, I did - not r know that there were swallows in the Tongan Islands until I saw them there; - It was > about fee end of March, three years ago. On one of the larger islands, on the east side, as a vessel •-•joes-' into Vanvau Har- j boar, there is a great limestone eave in the Sounding Bock. We went into the j cave in a boat, as it is entered ■ and ex-, j plored much better by a boat than by j foot. After we had made the rock ring j out * a deep, clear , note,, we saw birds j flying in the dim light. I saw by 'their j shape and flight, feat they were members j of fee swallow family. Our friends took a flashlight photograph of the cave The j smoke sent hundreds of birds flying. On , rowing out into the light, we saw that they were swallows. They seemed, to me to be the same species as I had seenxin New South Wales and Victoria. They took little notice of us, and flew to within a few yards, as swallows often do in j Australia." _____ v ' ' Mr W. L. C. Williams, Cambridge, j Waikato suggests that swallows should 1 be brought from Australia m a wire netted case, lined : with mosquito netting, to prevent them - from injuring themselves. As for food, he suggests that a few loads of manure should bemused; to attract flies, and that the flies should be caught in large numbers w a , net, and supplied to the birds. •- -He states,'.that swallows may be caught in scores, £ m hundreds, if desired, under tire arches of bridges across the Yarra at. Melbourne in December. So far from v regarding; New Zealand's geographical area. » obstacle to the scheme he thinks that rt » admirablv suited for the purpose Liberated at the Bluff, swallows would have about 1000 miles iorJ their northern mirations. and they might g» *2™ 503 • miles further norii to -f fee . Ker. mactec Islands. The opposition expressed to fJ^SLT*SI£S the Hon. G. M Thomson, M.LX. who believes feat the fail for the reasons Mr. Williams has tried , to ; meet, lack of sufficient scope for migration. This at .present « a matter of opinion, - a question to rbt settled by. experiment only. There seem: to be no risk whatever -to - fanners, jrardervs-s, or fruit; growers in . introducing Australian swallows into New Zealanc. They ? are birds of good report. _ Inert '* no reason to fear that they will chang* insectivorous natures' in New M laii(?. -sn-v more than another Common ! wealth bird, fee _ magpie, cerie,mly th« : most useful bird introduced into tin. "country, lias changed it?, nature. .. - v A Mount- Albert . correspondent wro*U on November 6 stating that a few weeks previously he and other workers bega« £ build .3. temporary place for^f Crete used in a " add:ition , wooden Home. .. Beneath the aadad- • floor, he states, a pair - - -Tmafiine the ouslv . built their nes . "Twenty men conditions/' . hfe > within _ six ! are at work on 1 v,_, VT st eel bars are | inches -of the , ne ? lac ' . gteelworkers j being dragged m P j . carpenters -*» hammerin? at r tbe riT . nff . nails/ and | arc sawing timb . .of tTraber The j throwing A 0 Ki Zi nzs . is like the noise ! noise to the fa . ®_j ns M t through it of a barrel of top pn». and la id their all they will, hatch their Sg. 333 T o mr mind it "an - "°" voting. xo , a • r perfc rnixncp. =v Following the example set in the : Old D sp Irangement* have been made Xew Zealand. begicmngon^Dec^erl. taken in by Mr. J- A. J Forbes Swe Street. Oamaru. "In the cause of dumb and helpless creatures, he ap-oea-is to leaders of: this column for symSSnr. His object -is/ to , wipe oat, ,as fa as possible, the ugliness in the treatment ziven bv many humans to animals £ their power.. Be tfperis partictrfarly to vouni people, because kindly relation* to animals cult ivale % the ? a finer moral *<*,«*, - lead them to .treat their fellows kindlv and justly, and help to build up their"characters. Societies for 4 the Pre-, vention of Cruelty t> Animals are doing adminitoe work, mainly in the interests of. sheep, cattle, horses and dogs. Sir. Forbes appeals for those animals, and for »31 : ;:wiM- animais also. . : 4 r-: