NATURE NOTES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIV, Issue 19833, 31 December 1927, Page 1 (Supplement)

NATURE NOTES.

BIRDS IN THE WAIKATO.

BI X DBCMMOND, F.Z.S.

Grey teal, handsome little birds in their greyish-brown costumes and spotted stomachers, seem to be on the list of native birds that are decreasing. This is regrettable, but there is consolation in the fact that they are plentiful in Australia, Java and other countries. The latest report on them is by Mr. E. F. Frost, Tuakau, who states that .within the past ten years they have almost completely disappeared fron their haunts on the Lower Waikato River. Some years ago they were there in large numbers, and were gregarious, especially in February and March. At night they dispersed to tho sandbanks and the lagoons, and they might have been heard whistling and squawking almost anywhere along the river. As they have been protected for a fairly long time, shooting does not account for their disappearance, for which no reason can be given. It was very sudden. They were present in fairly large numbers one season; tha following season they had disappeared, except fox* a few stragglers. At present it would be difficult to find a single grey teal in the district. Stoats and weasels may have raided their nests, but they hardly can be blamed for the suddenness of the disappearance. The decrease of black tesl is a more serious matter, as they belong to New Zealand alone. They are black, very black, but the males are not a dead black, their backs being glossy with a rich, deep purple and their sides glossy with green. The females aire dull black above and brown mottled with white below. Twenty years ago, Mr. Frost states, these interesting little birds were present in many Urge flocks on the estuary of the Waikato River. They are not seen there now. Mr. Frost describes them as wary birds, keeping well, out in the open water in the daytime. They cannot be approached easily, in his experience, and shooting does not account for their disappearance. They favour the North Island more than tho South Island, but in the South fifty-five years ago they we.e fairly plentiful in hill country. Their grassy nests, thickly lined with down, often are made near, uigger-heads close to a stream or under tussocks a few feet from water. Like their cousins in grey, they are gregj»««9«. Swimming en a secluded lake or on a river, they make an attractive picture. Lake Guyon, Nelson Province, was ot,e of their hoir.es in more prosperous days, and may shelter some of them still. Early records confirm Mr. Frost's statement that formerly they were very plentiful in the Lower Waikato district.

Among natives that are more than holding their own • are tho spoonbill, ducks. They migrate annually to ttfe Lower Waikato' for nesting. ; They apt pear about the first week in August; by the end of September they are present in thousands. They nest in the swamps and along the river. The present season being favourable for nesting, Mr„ . Frost has : seen hundreds/"of young' spoonbills. Fresh batches are seen every- week. Spoonbills appeared there--in smsil numbers about thirty years ago, and seem tc have increased ever since. Almost all of them disappear from the district in April, just before the opening of the shooting season. The migration, apparently, is a local one. Lakes further up the 'river' may : be the attraction: They are very swift' on the.wirig. In the nesting season they are very quarrelsome, fights taking place among them. >

The boom of the bifctarn, somewhat like the bellow of a bull a long way off, is heard in the Waikato more often than formerly. The numbers of bitterns there some fifteen or twenty years ago dwindled almost to vanishing point, but now, if a person knows where to look for them, according to Mr. Frost, dozens may be seen in a small area. Mr. C. Lewis usually looked for the lighter side of natural history. " Coming round a patch o£ cover," he -wrote, " 1 have seen what looked like a dried clump of gorse or a wisp of dried raupo, flax or rushes. On closer examination it proved to be a bittern, sitting motionless, with its bill pointing upwards. On one occasion I saw a bittern walking about near the edge of a swamp. I successfully stalked him. Emerging from behind rushes that covered my approach, all I could see was the gorse stump I have mentioned. Realising the position, I watched for several minutes and could detect no movement; but it was the bittern, which had heard ray footsteps and had taken up its characteristic attitude for protective purposes."

On the Waikato swamps and marshes there may still be seen or heard an interesting bird, known popularly as the fern-bird, known to Maoris as matata and toetoe,. and called by pioneers the utick, in imitation of its monotonous note, which, Mr. Frost finds, is heard more frequently than the bird is seen, as it keeps close to cover,, The draining of swamps is one reason for the fernbird's disappearance from some districts. Pukekos are becoming as plentiful as barndoor fowls in the Waikato district. They stand unalarmed on the roadside while motor-cars pass. The fact that the little grebe, or dabchick, is seldom seen on tho Waikato does not imply that it is decreasing there. It never has been plentiful in that district. In any case this shy and retiring bird may be present in satisfactory numbers, although it is seen very seldom. Mr. T. H. Potts found that it'wag necessary to lie iri wait, silent and patient, before he saw the little grebe swimming about gaily, bat never going far from sheltering rushes among which ifc nested. ,On the least alarm it dived and was seen no more.

Four species of shags, including the black shag, almost a cosmopolitan, are barely holding their 1 own in the Waikato. Hundreds are killed in the shooting season. Mr. Frost urges that, in some diaitricts at least, shags should be absolutely protected, .tie does not, feel that they have been proved guilty of being a menace to trout. Observation extending over many years has convinced him that the eel, which is the shag' 3 staple food, is a greater enemy to trout than shags are. Mr. Lewis was no friend oi the black shag; he blamed it for working "terrible havoc" among fish in Lake Ellesmere, and in one season a friend and he shot 850 shags; but he admired the black shags' flight. He watched them rise in a mass in spiral formation, mounting higher and higher until they reached a height, sufficient for their purpose. They then, half-crossing their wings, simply fell to their homes. The weight of their bodies, their poise and the height from which thev fell produced a speed that seem to him to be almost incredible. Their wings, in the swerving flights, made a roaring noise, which heralded their approach. Hearing this he recalled the words " And suddenly there came a sound from heaveu, as of a rushing, mighty, wind." > '