A LITERARY CORKER
’ORIGINAL AND SELECTED MATTER. ” VESTIGIA N U I>l* A KETKOiiSUM." i Su’wt, do you sot* Uie dawn blush rose? Calm noonday come? SiiU niynt- creep And U all U tiiose things one feels and knows—i.unci' OI July palais Wowii DVr wind-swept lawns? and dumbly, i i. your straight grave, see cloud-ships iijilig I 1 I no sea of sky? And close ! doo mo lieside you, on the moss . ..one unii.i with grief—and come to J o dn' i'in 'of e in !■ - laughing days, )i wild hours in the wwxl s wild ways— W hen pain or hopelessness, or loss. ; Hr aught disastrous or i Horn Had never touched us; when together : IV,. found this sad world gay and fair: ') sun-kissed hills of purple heather! (1 love' 1 .(> k you everywhere . . And watch the coming of the dawn i Tinting to op;.d y-ur white cross. —"Westminster Gazette.” A SAT STATE OF AFFAIRS. Mo!!k r’*; ai‘ I’ho iM-ashoiT, S ‘ii/.n 1 :iv.uy ; JJrot iicT Dili i-i fiSi-ohiu« porch Out there on (he bay. Everyone i-’ hcippy. Hi. v ] Mi' ;v s ol fun; 'CVp'iL- D.M. vhu never will Col d-u; di.iK.-G LOIDL lUltcl in, in Ike All Hi- Pi h ■ 'dfid; All th" .A' KRim, ,\!1 Ik*\d-iid. Moslv--1 • -id i •« iik.uUi, J );*ii i!k. lb-:- ;> 11 : Non* lioC <- Id.- <rJ Cio plates Thai d. '..-:Kv- Kdo ■Mother. , ' f ' l .. iv-ir -v. Como Id -”' ■ do Uioro; Dad con <- i < Flub-.- lor I-*-. mcKils more. Ho is up mvind it Vdhilo VI, ■ 1 ;t- JIAVay ; ‘ Kow lie's ’.avakL'st food From till' la i\:v aril tray. H - will not v/K-h Hio dishes nilfii thorn in the siukj If you ’could on.lv si c liicm now, I wander \vl»M ymiM think. Oh huiTv, mother,* hurry, Como back to ns to-day; For father hasn’t washed a dish Since fieri you went away. —'“Detroit Fx*eo Press. A VALLEY OF BIRDS. (By the Editor.) X. The day will come, in all human possibility, though perhaps not in the time of any person now living, when a native New Zealand bird will lie a rare sight to the colonist. Through the incredible and criminal folly of some New Zealand Government (which, 1 cannot tell, so that I speak jvlthout political bias) the disappearance of certain bird forms of inestimable, value to science is already absolutely assured.* The ground-parrot (Stringops); the kiwi (Apteryx), and the wcka (Ocydromus) are certainly doomed. With weasels, stoats, and ferrets in our colony nothing can save them; not even, it is to be feared, sequestration in outlying islands. If these vermin had served the purpose for which < they were originally introduced, in consideration of the great gain to the sheepfarmer one might have accepted the groat wrong to Science. But though they have increased in number sufficiently to become a nuisance and a danger, I have not so far heard that they have made any great inroad on the rabbits., Before the arrival of the stoat, the once numerous endemic quail had vanished. The ewampheh," or pukoko, still numerous, it is to be ffioped, is bound to follow. Even now one has misgivings about this bird: for, whereas one used to see from the windows of a railway carriage flocks of these birds in marshy places, you . may now travel a day's journey through, the most likely haunts, without seeing a single pukeko; nor is there to be seen now. as formerly, such a display of these birds at the poulterers'. One can only hope that when the weasels and ferrete have exterminated our priceless ground birds they will then be driven to a rabbit diet; Though, from the general good sense of the tribe, they may. always be trusted to prefer poultry and lamb, with occasional baby by way of change. Apart, however, from our groundbirds ’ so irredeemably doomed, that perhaps the museums had better, appropriate all that are left, one cannot help fearing that some of our native flight birds ore in danger of extinction from the extension of settlement and the competition into which, they are forced with imported species. Certain native-birds of even powerful flight there is little bop© to save. Our native fruit-eating dove (Carpophaga); one of the loveliest pigeons in the whole world, is too simple in its instincts and habits to hold its ground against* the -wiles of cunning foes from the northern hemisphere. The saddle-back, the native thrush, the wat-tled-crows, and the stitcb-bivd'nre in dan'ge.r; if. Indeed, the last named is not as good as extinct already. Honey-eat-ing and fruit-eating birds must recede "with the recession of native bush, unless thev can contrive to j?et their honey and their fruit from cultivated plants. As regards honey-eating birds the case does not seem to be so hopeless, if one, may judge from what takes places in certain gardens. I know one garden within whose area the bell-birds are, or hsed to. be, numerous and riotous, attracted by cone-blooms of a Banksia tree originally brought, a small seedling, from Tasmania. There Is no very visible promise of honey in the ,flower cones it puts forth in late autumn and in winter; but the bell-birds apparently find an inexhaustible supply. As many as five or six of these birds may be seen in this tree at once, stopping occasionally to gurgje the honey out again in, song, or to play a digestive game of tig in the orchard. Anyone may attract the bell-bird even into the middle of a city; for, failing n Banksia, which everyone does not possess, this bird takes kindlv to a Japan quince, which everyone does, or may, possessProm early to late autumn a mass of tropoeolura tuberosum, or of rtritoma uvaria, the common torch-lily, will in- . fallihly bring bell-birds, though I know of',no summer flower that has for them the same attraction. Supposing, therefore, that these birds are properly .protected by law. there does not seem to bo any good reason why they should necessarily .become extinct, and the same holds good of the tui. or parson-bird (Prosthemadera novae Zealandiae): though with the wholesale destruction, of timber that goes on at present they are sure to bc- ■ come scarce, . Again, as regards flycatching birds like, the fantails (Rhipidnra), and grub-eating birds like the robin (Petroeca) then chance of holding Iheir ground will depend on whether, with the recession of the bush, the native flies and other insects on which these birds subsist disappear with the bush; and if they do so disappear, whether other suitable forms of insect life will take their place. I am no entomologist. and can affirm nothing on this point: but I can say from my observation that so far the fantails least have found abundant subsistence in the cultivated neighbourhood of certain New Zealand towns. Uf course, woodland rover will always bo indispensable, to ’ these birds, though this cover need not necessarily be native bush, which is, / generally speaking, slow of growth. In view of the possible extermination of bird species native to this Dominion, end their displacement by imported
I species bettor fitted for existence under the changed conditions of the sl ui-s , ~ :-(.i vaiioii.* of species that trequest certain localities have always *OO.I- - these notes ivere made as : he ie-,-uili. of a day’s enervation in a tertan bird-haunted valley towards the end of ai.av loot of this year;, a season .win birds of all kinds are particularly active. After their household tales 111 Iw sorin'' —sav, from Christmas onwaids fur a° season —there is amongst birds a period of comparative inactivity. Auiut birds have been sacrilicmg themselves for their young; they arc therefore in a ro.uuaiativcly pool' condition: auci a fill titer strain is put upon their energies when they moult, which they gen-(.r-'My lK“'in to do soon after the breediii-‘ season. There are several months 1 : .re-from Christmas up to about the end of April—when birds are comparatively silent and lifeless. Vou may sec them in plenty as before, but you cannot hear them, and their motions and ways of life are not so interesting as due.in' the otnei' months of the year. Thev "are meanwhile, however, putting on flesh and feathers, so that towards the beginning of May they are fat and in fine plumage, and certain species her-., aid their recovered animal spirits by a vigorous out-bursc of song- It is miraculously strange how these creatures observe their times and seasons. A low davs before the end of April the woods will be as silent as the grave, and on the first of May they will be jubilant with the songs of thrashes. How do the birds keep their calendar? —that is the -pAut. * Probably a thrush keeps his dates much in tiio same way as a crocus or a snowdrop. In the fullness of time, when certain pnis-.o.ogicai p.ocia.-cs have uad time to’ run their round, the flower pierces the ground, by hastening tor retarding the processes you may 'appro-/ cia.ny change uie rime of novvering: but, left to itself, a flower or a bird is a, ouch we ami up by .suture, and will suite w aeu t.,le hour comes. i eiiouiu Hut suppose taut mere is uiucn mure cuhscous wlii-pu,. el' 111 lue singing ol a bird tnan 111 tne spr-utiug el a learner: , u sings occause it must. Liui'iug tiio urst tour mouths of the Laittil, Uil\ls UI’T UCCUiIIUiUUIIg tili-gL'U-tug up luo steam, so to epeaii, airl tovvarus tuo tml of April you *.uuy , ai.Kiys louiC for un outburst of activity, noise, and frolic. , As regards onus, tno mouth of may is only m : interest to tac spring season. /The ! special day ol May with winch 1 . am concerned was the perfection of late auuunu weathers sharp grey frosi in the morning; warm sunsuine without wind during the day; and a flood of yellow light Dn the hills, as the sun went down in the evening. Going up the valley one follows a bush tram-line all the way to the mill which it serves, and consequently one is never any grout distance from the stream, which is generally abundantly full, though not flooded, and, what is important, pure and clear. The tram sometimes crosses the course of the stream, taking the easy grade on the edge of the meadow* land, and is for a considerable distance parallel to the road. The conditions or the valley are pre-eminently suited for field and w*oodland birds: I know of no place where the conditions are bettor. In bottom of the valley ; there are low,« moist, well-cultivated meadows, divided by quickset hedgerows, thickly planted, and therefore, impenetrable to cattle. Fortunately the , hedges have been completely neglected, : and so the quicks in them have grown in many places to trees, bearing heavy crops of haws, unappreciated, so far .as r could see, by the birds. There is a little gorse, and j-ou come across an occasional dog-rose loaded at that season ; with scarlet hips, which, like the haws, 1 are apparently left severely alone by | the birds. At one side of the valley, close to the road and the-tramline, runs I the stream, an ideal stream of clear I water, clean enough to drink. .The .channel is paved with small boulders and j occasional little stretches of gravel: and the banks are in some places open, in others skirted with good covert. From i the edge of the stream, and running j along its whole length as far as the saw- ! mill, there rises a somewhat steep ridge, i covered for the 'most part with good f hush; not mere copse, though that is thick enough, but timber of considerable , size: notably some fine specimens of 1 white pine. In the meadows to the right of the stream there are isolated trees; fine old broadleafs, with a good deal of dead wood about them, but yet on the whole very much, alive; young totara trees: and many lovely sophoras, com-, Inning in themselves the graces of the 1 weeping l willow and' the acacia. Across the valley, on the other side, there is ; a dry manuka slope, running into many pleasant sunny openings and glades, and showing here and there* outcrops of lich-en-covered igneous rock; beyond which slope again, fields and farms . stretch away to the foot of the range. In short, there is everything to tempt a field or j woodland bird to take up its residence I in the valley: including. 1 should, think, j freedom from molestation- If it is a i public holiday, you meet, of course, occasionally the harmless necessary boy i with gun on shoulder, intent cm shooting i rabbits: but I could not see that he did I much harm to the birds, or to the rabbits either, for the matter of that;'and as for cats, stoats, weasels, and all that ; kind of vermin, their .presence is not felt in the happy valley, i As might be expected, 'in such a spej cial paradise, birds are exceptionally numerous. From dawn till dark, the air is full of their song ,It is not merely that you can always hear some bird singing, but in the foienoon ’and evening' tho valley is as noisy as a church choir. There is absolutely a large body of sound, kept up for hours without intermission. This means, of course, that there is an immense number of songsters singing at once., One has noticed in gathering flowers,- how various species, flung at random into a basket, fall into a harmony of colour which any attempt at arrangement, as likely as not, destroys. And you are reminded of this as you listen to a valley full of bird song. The birds all fling their notes into the <oir, without any care for arrangement. Tho result is a piece of unooncerted music that defies all_ the laws of harmony, and which yet is. in its way, sweeter than a symphony of tuned ■ instruments. And just as one or two instruments will dominate an or-* chestra. so will the notes of certain birds dominate the babel of bird sounds. In the Hanpy Valiev the dominanf note was far and away* that of the English song-thrush. It is.incredible how numerous this extraneous bird is in this vallev, and how loud and varied is his eong. It is a bird, that is apt to deceive the”nnwftrv ear: not with its high orchestral notes, but with its setto voce warbling, when it seems to be communing with its own little h«art ratbe»* + bnn consciously performing to on audience. Then you" may easily take rts note for that o‘f some new and strange warbler. T cannot b**l,n thinking that if the thrush is not imitative in e*m>e parts'of its sone. it- i« at lea«t affected by the songs of other birds. Its notes are sometimes positivelv harsh: son etimee they have a suggestion of a dog's yelp, sometimes of the plrintive cheep uttered by a deserted chicken a young turkey. Sometimes, even in its most distinct notes, it surprises you By some novel aualitv. As yon are puzzling whmh of two possible exits to take from a dilemma of bush lawyers, you may he«r close to vou o new and unknown, hut beautifully meßow Toice, saving, or seeming to sav—'"Tins way. this way. 1 ? You may think for fi moment that you hear pome hitherto unknown native bird: it is onlv when the notes are .repeated vrifh that yon recognise it to s be a thrush, .Amidst the storm of sound -that fills the ypllev wh«n the i« m full bl«st. it is; iT»+«r-A*t-?ng to note the. move subdued warbling* that form the underrnrrpnt in the *mn--1 cml of sound, and to separate ! park various sonir out from the rest; • though it wHI fo~"d tj»"t.a oonridor. i pMa nnrt of the body cm sound is con- : + T .;v M ,fod nnf hv tT,o smyler sa-ngste^S. but hr distant'birds of powerful soug. t trhose" notes become \softmed into ini cHsHnetnoys by the distance. I For some of our native birds the month of Mav is -*i carnival seaean of plenty, I in which thev rm*el for ft time before ti«iy bid farewell to flesh ind enter on
a period of lenten faro. The conduct of the more rowdy species at this season (Sterns, at least, to require some justification of this sort. Growing on tne hillside, not far from the vaiiey um. there is a beautiful white pine, which at this season is crowded with festive birds —chiefly tuis and bell-birds— feeding on the drupes of the tree, which are plentiful at this time, and m fine ripe condition. Go under the braiiclies_ to look up at the larks " that are going on above and you are certain to be pelted let us hope unintentionally, by the feathered larrikirus aloft, in proper carnival fashion. At this season of the year all tho drupe-boaring pines are loaded with fruit: al«o the coprosma, nertera, and : such’ things: so that the birds are in j high feather, full of insolence and fun. I Tuis* aro numerous in the Happy Vai-, lev more particularly towards the source! of the stream. At the time of my, visit.! I thought it impossible that these birds ; could he more numerous than they were in that place. But in this I was mistaken:. far. a few week/*. Inter, on a neighbouring ridge, I saw this bird in incredible numbers, and apparently, lor the time being, as giegavious ns rooks. When they settled on a tree, the tree was black with them, and when they ro<e in the air. which they often did with one accord, they were like a. cloud n.f 'darlings, whilst the rustle of their wings was, I should think, a union©: sound in nature. But the interior of the bush is the place to see tho tin at his m-O't natural and best At the head of »this Happy Valley they were in great form: boisterous ns a synod of Geneva, parsons, i elotwed from the restraint of a te'l’au* sederunt. Indu'd it seems almost indecorous in Nature to have endowed such larrikins with the insignia of a law-abiding and respectable body '’’like th* clergy. And the semblance does not coiK-e with tho white bands and the black 1 lustre Geneva gown; for you will often see a more than usually pompous tui take possession of the top rang of u decayd cedar and hanmgue* , his brethren on the lower branches with a vblubituy't..at must be particularly exas- ’ peratiug to those who “sit under" him: uud exasperating it evidently is, for they do not nesitate to get up on their iespective .stumps ana fling back to the , orator as good as tluy get. It Ls a neverending deiight to wuten thenutics of these . birds as they pose and posiure on a branch, the cock-bird guri gling out his song like fluid from an ; over-full bottle, whilst the hen clings to the lower side of a branch, pretending to look lor honey, but solely intent on twisting and curving her lovely little body so as to bring out in the sun, to its full value, the metallic iridescence of her neck feathers. (To be continued.)
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Bibliographic details
New Zealand Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 6326, 28 September 1907, Page 9
Word Count
3,198A LITERARY CORKER New Zealand Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 6326, 28 September 1907, Page 9
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