NOTES FROM RESOLUTION ISLAND.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 11046, 25 February 1898, Page 7

NOTES FROM RESOLUTION ISLAND.

MR HENRY'S EXPERIENCES,

We are permitted to make the following oxtracts from letters received by Mr J. f. Maitland from Mr Henry, who is in charge of the sanctuary at Resolution Island :— A VISIT TO THE SEA SHAGS' BREEDING ttACE. Oa our wayout on Octobar swe spenta day on Anchor Island, and weut along the lake to its south end to where the shaga have their nests, Dear the overflow creek. We counted 60 of the big' white-breasted shags and a few paits of little rivor shags, which seemed to have only tbrea nests, out of which wo gob 10 fresh eggs. But there wore a great many big nes's, uot half of them occupied, for they «eem to be hatching and feeding young at all seasons, and here they are m all stages from eggs ub to full-grown bird?. The nests were built of spriga, and in many cases rebuilt uutil some were about these storeys high. Mostly there were three egg*, but out of one ne«t we got four whits eggs. The nests were all built on trees leaning out orer the water, so that the young ones would not be hurt when tbey fell down. Some of the full-grown young ones I huntsd dowu to see if they had learned to swim before they were born, or wanted teaching like the seals. Thsy were reluctant to go, but one of them, alarmed, went; straight down and took quite a loug dive for his ?ery first effort, aud when he cama up, washed his back aud shook his wiugs with ' dulight at the naw experience. Theu if baby seals have to be patiently learned to swim, does it hot suggest an abaenes of instinct;, aud a claim for reason like men ?

Although there were generally three in a nest when they were young, there were only one and two when grown up. This did not surprise us when, we saw the rude way they jostled each other every time the mother came with food, and the* poor little platform they,had to Bght upon, as if ...arranged to.-., roar , only the most vigorous. But th^n the site was evidently, chosen to swe the, ousted and , windfulleoi for there were flat rocks out in the water, and many .iWjiiug finagp whore th«y could clamber up aud ba as comfortable as in the poor sort of nest. "And tilers were mMiy up in such places, one of which I tried to hunt down, but only made it sick with frighb, for it disgorged n. fish and then held on. as if it thouglit that sufficient sacrifice for the moment.

, When the mother came with food to ths big ones in the water the competition was very j severe, foe they appeared to attack her, flapping aud chasing her about uutil she allo *ed oue of them to thrust.its head dow"n her throat, aS it at a disbauce of 30' yards. What a 'leathern throat it must be to allow a prickly fish to be pulled up by the tai! ! While fant one was gnlping its fish the other oh.ased the motihor, who ■ dived and gava it o['iite a lung hunt before she yielded to its fia.tie efforts. She may enjoy its cleverness and sdreugth,. or she. may do this for Bchooling, because we neel unt conclude th*t har^ whole duty ends when (she supplies them with foiid. • ■

At a little disi-.anca away were a company of old shags performing a comedy of theirown at intervals. The would start it' by setting up their tails, then raising the points of tho wings and shaking them over their backs, at the same time drawing back the heads until ths baaks pointed up wards! Th-m they would all start a peevish cry.increaiing iii melancholy as th«y brought their heads forward, until' with outKtiotched necks and distended throats they would shake* their heads in a perfeat sgouy of grief- about something—pochaps more fish fromtheir mau>s,; for their manner was somewhat like.the young ones... '-.-.;''..

When thorewerea dozen of fchemafcthisatonce, and all.timing each'other t> bripg out the !a*t squeal in chorus,' it skeined a queer concert-,, but quite in keeping with thuir attitudes, and I'sunpose it wag all grace and music to them—no accounting for tastes. :

We saw tio ottier;>bit:ds*on--this lake except a sparrow-hawk that s'st above some of the nests— waiting a chanca .for -a young one,-of courss. We watched him for a long time—while boiling the billy—without undemtantliug details but noticed; the shag'sf half frightened and fightable.man'nert as they stretched.but thait necks towards.him ;. and I caught the idea that they would in Ml likehbood,protect each other's nests during the owners' absence, bacause every nest with very youug oue« had a big one by it, ■which was not so when the haWk went aw*y. Here is a hint how a race might be exterminated if their numbers were greatly reduced.

BARKED TOTARA THBES: All along the lake wo saw mauy totara trees that nad been barked-long ago in thsir young days, and sometimes "we could see the mirks of the blunt stone axethit hnft been used to strip them. Some were stunted, old, slow-grown trees that m.iy hive bean barked 500 years ago. One of the men oa tun schooner here says that the Maoris made eel pots of tubes of totara bui-k, with au inverted cons of netting in one end, and he ought to know, for ha talk* Maori Some two and a-half years ago the Hinemoa put two little pigs on Anchor Wand, and we saw where one of thorn at least had recently burked the bu!fof a Pftunx arborum '

SKELETONS OF WHALES. "Under date August 19 of last year Mr Henry records in his diary :-" Wa saw the skeletons of two small whales, in the only two coves we went into on the north side of Breaksea Hera at the very head is a skeleton of the sama sort, with the akull about 4ft long. I have no idoa how long the whale had baeu dead, but I think whale* bones only last a very few years. Perhaps these are the skel-sttma of calves the mothers of which were killed, when the little ones returned to their birthplace as the appointed rendezvous, 'to find only enemies 0r,•.-starvation. The ficrt, oecond,. and third- coves are all marked on t,h» map all. ob^ the.north -side, bud there might bare been six and.the head cove, all pretty much alike, with, creeks and sand flats. We were only, in four, and;«iw three skeletons. . "AN -KNCOUNTEa WITH ICE. ' : ' " Half-way up Vancouver Arm we saw cunous-'.ookiug water ahead which turned out to be ice. There were many hundred acres of it in the shade and reaching fully half-way across the sound. Wk rushed at it (with oars' like the • Fi-ano,1 but the 'Premier' stuck fsßt after crashing through ab»ut a' chain of it bo we had to go back and go round. , Even then we stuck on a floe, and I had to take the dingey and make a track through it. The ice was only about one-sixth of an inch in thickness yet it made scratches on the net* paint and even marks on the planking. There were 'lanes' and "pressure ridges,' but we din not take much notice of them. There must have been a conspiracy to allow such a thing to happen. No warm.sea watsr, no current to carry it into the ssa, no wind, aud juat then three bitter frosty nights' and two awful cold days. I think 1 never felt such a cold day as the 17th August. We have .had only a few wet days m August; There is no pleasanter place than this in fine1 weather."

HUNTING BIRDS. Under date August 26, Me Henry writes that he was out huuting kakapos, when he also secured a roa, which he wanted for Harbour Island, where he had previously liberated a mate for it. He liberated the roa on the island named, and took eight kukapos to Resolubiou Island. There are plenty of kakapb gardens in Wet Jacket Arm, where five gray kiwis were secured in two days' huuting. Coming down \Vet Jacket Arm there was seen ou the south side what appaared to be the roof of a hut nearly covered up iv scrub. On -investigation it proved to be a but of fungi walls and iron roof long de.ierbed. Carved, on the table was "Fug Harris" and " Burb." Mr Honry conjectures it must be a relic of Docherty's copper mine.

A DEAD SEAL. Going along the aoubh coast of Resolution a litnlp was seen in the water, which on investigation proved to be a dead se»l considerably decomposed. . It was towed a-,hore and the skin taken off where the fut was nob loose. The head had no fur left on it, which enabled Mr Henrj- to see holes in the akin, the reault of a shot or fighting— a shot he thinks. This is the first seal he has seen iv Dusky, but he reaßons that it is not to bo supposed that this is the only dead seal.

— It is stated that a remarkable submarine vessel is being equipped at Baltimore. She is designed to creep aloug ' the1 bottomof fine ocean in order to find old wrecks, and, possibly, treasure. Egress from the hull is rendered easy by means of the bow compartment being «o filled that the air pressure is equal to that of the water. During a recent ttsb the door was kept open for half an hour, but no water entered. Of course, only diveta go into this compartniHtif-.. The vnssel is named the A'gonaut, and belongs to Simon Lake. The vessel has remained for two hour* beneath the water.

— The palace of Versailles, ia Paris, U supposed to be the c.ostliesb ever built. It is said -that Louis the Fourfceeitiih, to prevent the va«t suras which he spent upon Uiis wonderful palace being known, threw all the documents relating to if; into the lira.