NATURE NOTES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LX, Issue 18577, 8 December 1923, Page 1 (Supplement)

NATURE NOTES.

THE GRAYLING.

BY J. DEt/MMOND, F.L.S.. I.Z.S.

The grayling, sometimes known by its Maori name, upokoro, has appeared again after many years' absence. Mr. ASharky reports from Boss, South Westland:—We thought that these native fish had been exterminated by brown trout and people who use dynamite when the fish take a rest in deep, quiet holes m creeks and rivers. About fifteen years ape, grayling took refuge in flood tuna in a 'great basin in the Mikonui River, in which a gold dredge floated. Pot-hunters then destroyed the fish in vast numbers. For every one bagged, perhaps a thousand were taken away by the river, or died on the bottom, to be washed out to sea by the under-current. There avtbeen no grayling in the river since. About the middle "of October, many grayling were seen under the Kanieri Bridge, in the Hokitika River. They fed there until a flood came along, and then they disappeared, but they reappeared in small numbers in Donelly's Creek and the Totara River. A local fisherman caught two dozen with rod and line.

Mr. Sharkv, in his younger days, caught hundreds of grayling on the lino. His experience shows that the only suitable bait for them is the little red wireworm, which lives in rich soil in the banks of streams. He states that grayling He in deep holes all night, and, ai daylight, drift down quietly among stones at the tail-end of each hole, where the current is stronger. There they may be seen nibbling at slimy green vegetable growth on the stones, among which they obtain food. They make their second appcara/ico for the year in March, when " the oil fairly Dozes out of them." When he was a member of a flying survey party, Mr. Sharkv found grayling in deep boles near the sources of rivers, in the middle of winter, also where a river emerges from a far inland lake. At Lake Mupourika, when the sun arose after a night's hard frost, he saw grayling emerge from the lake into the head of a creek to shallow waters, and stop there for hours, as if they enjoyed, a sun-bath. 'In March, 1882, in that creek, with worm bait, he caught a grayling which, he believes, holds the record. Weighed and measured hy Mr. F. Bird, resident magistrate, it turned the scale at 2Jlb., and was 20in. long and 6in. in girth. Mr. Sharky adds enthusiastically " Grayling have a finer flavour than any other fish in the world. When they come out of the lakes and go down the rivers, in March and October, they fairly would fry' in their own oil. They are plucky fighters if pounders. It is regrettable that we see them so seldom now in West Coast rivers."

Mr. S. F. Whitcombe, formerly traffic manager of the New Zealand Railways, heard a shitting cuckoo in Donedin two days in ,succession at the beginning of November.* "Down here," he wrote from Pomawea, Catlins district, Otago, on November 20, " both the shining cuckoo and the long-tailed cuckoo are, • very much in evidence. Their peculiar notes are heard frequently during the day. Bellbirds, tuis, fanuils, pied and black robins, tomtits, riflemen, bush • canaries, and grey warblers continually flit through the forests. ,Some,wood pigeons are nesting near here; I can hear them cooing from our little bush at the back of the house. It is a great pleasure to see native birds all around us. At Belleknowes, Dunedin, about a. -. month ago, I saw the first albino blackbird had seen since I left England. It was a female, and was hopping about on the back - lawn about. 7 a.m. Its head, .shoulders, upper part of the wings and breast were *niito white; the . rest of its body was just mottled, in the 'same way as a good many pukeko, or . swamp-hens, were mottled in the Parawa Swamp, ■ between Lumsden and Kingston, about twenty years ago."'

A male more-pork owl serenaded Mr. H. F. Chaffey and Mrs. Chaffey at their hill residence, Asbestos Cottage, near the waters of the Takaka River, Nelson, on the evening of November 14. It <at on a post in front of the cottage window. It began with a gutturd " por, por, por, por," repeated quickly from fifteen to twenty times, as if the owl was trying to bivik a record. It finished with a " morepork," drawn .out and well pronounced. Apparently out of breath with the effort, it took a spell for a few minutes and then repeated the performance, trying to utter the " por, por, por, por" quicker, if possible. Mrs. Chaffey shook a cloth at him, but he took no notice of it. 'A cup of water, • thrown i over him, induced him to depart. Commenting on this nocturnal visit, Mr. Chaffey writes:—" would, bo over-run with mice if it was not for the more-porks; they keep those pests down considerably. The female morepork, I think, was setting on eggs, as this particular hunting-ground is her's, and we seldom have a visit from the male. The ' por, por' notes, which are repeated many times, may indicate that he has just caught and eaten a young bird or a mouse, probably the - former, as several birds are feeding their young close to tour' cottage, notably three lots of hedgesparrows, a pair of song thrushes, fantails, and tomtits. White hatched in manuka close below the dog-kennels a week or two ago, and I am afraid that the male more-p ,rk got away with these youngsters, which is regrettable, as the severe winter killed a large number iof white-eyes; last spring there were twenty or thirty about here, but there is only one pair now."

Describing the habits of other birds as observed on the mountain . side, Mr. Chaffey " Hedge-sparrows are destructive to black currants, especially when the young hedge-sparrows are out of the nest, but still are in . leadingstrings. They plant the young under a currant bush, s get up into the bush, ,and pick off the berries, which fall to the ground. They usually pick off. many more berries than they # or the youngsters can eat. They seem to prefer the small .green berries just forming. Without ' wishing them any particular harm, wo hope, that our friend the more-pork will attend to the matter, and see that their number 13 reduced. White-eyes, which increase very rapidly, have two, if not three sets of young in the spring and autumn. Their flimsy nests are put together quicker than other birds build. Young white-eyes are out and about and fending for themselves soon after they are hatched. If whiteeyes were not considerably reduced occasionally by Nature, they might become so plentiful as to be a pest. The : more-pork is the natural enemy of forestbirds, and, doubtless, was intended to check their abnormal increase; but now we have the stoat and weasel also. The great falling-off in bird life in these forests a few years ago, I believe, was caused by stoats and weasels, who climbed the shrubs and trees, pulled the bottoms out of nests, and took the young. Most native birds, apparently, have become wise. They have built in more inaccessible positions. Tor another thing, hares have become fairly plentiful, and the vermin have something else to feed upon. Not long ago, when I was eating my lunch in the- Cobb Valley, I heard a squealing. Looking in tho direction from which it came I saw a leveret pass an opening in the snow-grass, uttering the cries of distress. A few seconds later, a weasel passed the opening, in pursuit, and we know the result."

Mr. W. W. Smith, New Plymouth, an experienced observer, states that several grey warblers may be seen feeding one young cuckoo. He explains that a young cuckoo, when almost fully grown, i 3 voracious and appeals to all passers-by to relieve its hunger. The small quantity taken to it by its little foster-parent each time dees not satisfy it. He has seen grey warblers visiting and feeding young cuckoos in succession. This is done, apparently, when the young cuckoos are unusually hungry.