NATURE NOTES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXV, Issue 20028, 18 August 1928, Page 1 (Supplement)

NATURE NOTES.

Bl' J. DRUMStOND, F.L.S., F.Z.S.

GODWITS' SIBERIAN HOME.

The Pacific godwits laid their eggs and reared their young m north-eastern Siberia and Alaska in May, Jane, and July. Many of them now prooably are 011 the long journey that will end in New Zealand, where they will spend the southern summer, leaving again in the autumn for their nesting grounds in the iar north. They seem to choose an elevated place on the great rolling tundras. Each nest, usually, is placed between clumps of grass, it is often merely a depression in the moss and lichens, lined casually with fragments of surrounding reindeer-moss. Sometimes a real, substantial nest is made, with grass woven in a circle. In spite of the clouds of godwits in many a New Zealand sandy bay and estuary, their eggs have not been recorded in this Dominion. In ground-colour, most of their eggs are serpentine green or dull citrine green; but there is another type of egg, buff-brown. The surface markings arc cinnamon-brown, snuff-brown or brownish-olive. The female godwit when brooding sits so tight that she does not rise until a stranger- has almost trodden upon her. The male, acting as a scout, meets the intruder some distance from the nest, and tries to disconcert him. Because of this ruse, although there may bo many nests, few are found. Those that are found are mostly disclosed by chance. The strange original contents of one godwit's nest were five eggs of a ptarmigan. The godwit had laid her four eggs 011 top of the ptarmigan's, after the ptarmigan, apparently, had been driven off the nest by the godwit. Flocks of godwits, ranging in number from twenty-live to two hundred, have been watched arriving in Saint Michael, Alaska, .in the middle of May. They were shy. They kept in continuous motion, wheeling and circling in rapid flight over the lowland. They sometimes alighted for a few seconds, but skimmed away again in a close body. By the end of INlay the flocks i#e broken up. The godwits then distribute themselves over their nesting grounds. In Siberia, as in New Zealand, they are vociferous. The old birds make themselves so conspicuous by their clamorous! agitation that they seem to be more plentiful than they are. "The dinful Pacific godwit" are the words in which one observer describes them.

As a person approaches they arise from the ground, one after another, and come circling about, uttering a loud "lvuwew" with an energy that makes th« cars ring. If the nests are near, or if there are young gochvits, the grown-ups come closer and closer, some of th«> boldest swooping near the stranger's head and redoubling the din. The same not? is heard on all sides while the godwits are courting. It also expresses their anger and their alarm. In the mating season the males have a rolling whistle. At that time the godwits hold their wings stiffened and make a few rapid strokes and then glide for a short distance. On the ground they walk gracefully, with head well raised. They often pause to raise their wings high over their backs, and deliberately fold them again. If their whistling note is imitated they may be decoyed when they are flying in flocks. When wounded and taken in the hand they utter a loud, harsh scream. One of the most lasting impressions given by godwits on the Siberian tundras is in respect of their wonderful powers of flight. Young godwits seem to wander northward and eastward before they start out for the south. They are among the first of the waders to leave Alaska in that, country's autumn. Young are flying by the middle of July. Before the end of the present month, in at least some parts of Alaska, not a single godwit, young or old, is seen. The route of migration is through the Commander Islands, Japan, China and the Philippines, and on to Northern Australia, Fiji, New Caledonia, the New Hebrides and New Zealand, as far south as Stewart Island, also to the Chatham Islands.

The favourite foods of god wits are different sorts of small insects, gathered on or near the shore. Hundreds of minute threadlike aquatic grubs of a midge were found in the stomachs, with beetles, pieces of shells of molluscs, marine worms, and a very little vegetable matter. In ponds, godwits feed by keeping thqir bills in the water, and they usually move in one direction, heads to the wind. Apart from this, nothing seems to be known of the godwits' feeding habits, a subject that New Zealand naturalists might take in hand.

Another Siberian that comes, year in, year out, all the way to New Zealand, although in smaller numbers than the godwit, is the sharp-tailed sandpiper. As far as is known, its nesting-places are in Eastern Siberia and Mongolia. From the Commander Islands ifc flies along the coast of Asia, through Japan, China, and the Malay Archipelago to Australia and New Zealand. Its plumage is handsomely and richly coloured. Rich buff and bright brown are particularly noticeable in the juvenile stage. On- Siberian shores, near North Cape, this little sandpiper is very plentiful. It has been seen seeking its food on ground covered by reindeer tracks. Feeding along the edges of tidal creeks, it may almost be knocked over with a paddle, and when a flock is fired into it returns again and again.

Although llio curlew-sandpiper does not seem to be plentiful in New Zealand. it is on the list of regular migrants to this Dominion from Siberia. At one time it was believed that it nested in Greenland. This now is discredited. The only nesting-places of the curlew-sand-piper, known definitely, are in Eastern Siberia, from the delta, of the Yenesei River to the Taimyr Peninsula, and on the Liakhof and other Siberian islands. Its nest and eggs were not discovered until thirty-one years ago. An island of soft tundra was being explored by a party of Americans. One of them has described this incident: "We lay down to watch a curlew-sandpiper. With very great difficulty it was kept in sight, as it took advantage of every little hollow to run in and of every little ridge to hide behind. One of us got up and walked away. The bird remained motionless, watching him, and then ran backward and forward, and finally stopped behind a small tuft of grass. After a few minutes, I raised my head slightly. The bird instantly flew off and stood watching. As it saw nothing more, it ran about again, and then settled down. I felt sure that I had the nest safe. I distinctly saw the bird shuffle eggs under it. I jumped up and had the pleasure of looking at the first, authentic eggs of the curlew-sandpiper."

Four years later Russian explorers who wintered on the const of (.he Taimyr Peninsula saw curlew-sandpipers in their homes. Fourteen years ago Mrs. Brindlev saw a curlew-sandpiper in-tho angle of the Yenesei and Golchika Rivers. Close by there were two small tarns, covered with blue ice. In tho distance herds of reindeer were grazing, and a Samoycde sledge glided swiftly over a ridge. After much patient watching, lying still in the wet and sucking lumps of sugar until she almost fell asleep, Mrs. Brindley saw a skuagull overhead, and she snatched her gun aud shot it. Up sprang the curlew-sand-piper, and Mrs. Brindley ran to tho place. Tho curlew-sandpiper drooped a wing to decoy her, but in a few seconds she saw tho nest at her feet*