OUR PUBLIC SCHOOLS COLUMN.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 13673, 16 August 1906, Page 3

OUR PUBLIC SCHOOLS COLUMN.

FOR BOYS AND GIRLS.

(Conducted by Mscistrß. (o whom oil com mumcations Tini~i- bo addressed.)

OUR DISAPPEARING BIRDS.

The appended letter from "Ornithologist" gives a wide field for tho recording of ot>ncrvtimis, past and present, of those who Lavo been, or are. at all interested in our native bird life. Last week I published two letters illustrating tlio mimicry of Nature, ami wro an extract showing that birds are not the simpletons many of us may imagine. Many readers, old and o?on young, cr.ii .look back and boo in their district an appreciable diminution in the number and kinds of native birds. What is the reason? Advance of settlement? '.Destruction of bush? Tho advent of the weasel and other imported animal!? The gun of the snorlsman?~pot-hnnters. "Ornithologist" calls them. I am MITO there (ire nianv who arc only too willing to do what they ran to belp "Ornithologist." who lias uncut in the pafct. and is jrewlinc.i.now. much time, trouble, and money in making « permanent. record of ■what is known of tho birds of New Zealand anil their haliita. My senior readers «w speak of the past; and my junior roaders, guided perhaps at time* by thoi 1 * elders, cjlh make observation# now, and continue to do so from tiino to lime, always with the obiect in view of helping "Ornitho'ogis l " an<! others, "I linvo rnoditierl tlio coupon slichtly to make it cover a wider field. In the index column tho words "rare." "very rare.' "plentiful." "still plentiful hilt, diminishin?." "never verv plentiful but now selooin Been, etc.. may ho inserted.

Dear Mx"istfr.--l am very Milieus to find enl wWlier ntir mlive birds ire still in exi'tonce in O'??o and Southend. I on fair authority that the blue crow and the sndtlle-bjck hive "gone under"; that the kiwi, kakano, and nstivc thrush *rc much rarer than hofero; that canaries, pukekos, »ml moropork? have qilite disappeared from Tnany 'nralitic; tVt robin o , tnmlit' l fenUils. creepers, mockers, and tuis are very ucarce. Grey w»rt)"e'« ho'd their own. but nißonns and kskns are doomed very aonn te lio "gunned " nut. Ducks hold their ground to a certain extent owiup tt> the large Tumiber of eges they lay. but they, too, will have in go. Will any of yonr readers cut out and fill in this little coupon and seiul it in to xne? Tlio names of birds filler] in phnnld be those in the immediate neighbourhood. Nfnien of bi'ds which oupht to be known in the neighbourhood, but the namei ot which do not appear in any coupon, trill bo taken to be extinct ot fo rare a? not to be known to an ordinary observer. Does anyOne know of tho esi u tenco of a white heron, n'bittern, or a dabcbick?

An oblong like this [appended lit foot.— WioiSTßiil hiring room for say a dozen birds or so would meet mv wishes. I want •ome hundreds or thnu&TOdo of those papers, m it is most important tlwt'Uiii material •hou'.d Ixs collcr.tod. I «ni «w&re that tho Department of Afp-iculturo ha.« done cortain work in this direction, and I will endeavour to nil "their material a& Troll, but I want tlje psrsotul observation of jroitr email ropdoi*—youngstcri! with keen even and a loVo for tho bush. H»§ auyono teen ft Troa.se] or ferret at a nest, or tackling a bird of any kind? 1 am told they will kill, bat will not eat i blackbird or thrush, as they are " sour." la thia a bushman's yxro? Ornithowo'ist.

Name. Cause, Ind«x. \Vr« Tut Unknown itr* Kiwi wetitlt. «ry nrt K»v. /.i|,dimlnUWne "" *• filter «l(,w «tc. etc. «te.

Brr.us ixtihct: Rofciti (tlxrut 1300: MlinK, *'ea»el».) Kakai'o (aboirt 1690: can, falling, etc.). Am OTHIF. nSMIRT*: IjOCAUTJ JIErSRRID to: Nun and Admkss : It has just «trnck j'iM thai tarctwm might bo nillint; to devoid tr/o or tl/reo Nature iturfy lessons to this subject. Children might be given c joriw of questions to take licmo, and the information thus obtained might bo sifted br tho teachore, and further qm-stions »nko(f o.ml firrther information obtained. Final result* cotikl then bo sent oa. Kunholdors anil shepherds conlii nlw fWe valuable ataisUnce. "THE TRAGEDY OK CIVILISATION." f.Tust before receiving " Ornithologist's" letter I had written out tho following, intending to uso it in a week or two, hut "Ornithologist's" reference to the disappearing of our bird 9, ami the efforts lieing made by the Otago Gun Sportsmen'a Association to put ail end to indiscriminate slaughter, makes tho present moment an opportune one for publishing it.— MagibTKTI.I

A month or two ago llicro w.i' in tlve Tiniri a prnnomicrxl reference to Iho nnsportsmanliko coiiflnct of some men who, in Otaco—antl thero aro men nlsowlmrc just as bad.—killed just for the sake of boosting nf what, tliuy had " bajjfroii." and I think a society was fonwd to sluime suoh men, if nossililn, into a more sane line of conduct. It will br remwnlwreil. too. that sotno weoks aeo t wrote slroncly aeiiinst thn destruction of our native birds, and against the raistorn ladies had of woarinp; birds in their Itoad (tear, and, at the same time, quoted from nn n.rl.ielo in the Sphere. These references are recalled by nnn of tho chapter* in " With FMilijrht and Camera." hy a Rorman traveller and naturalist, who penetrated the wild? of Africa to studv animals in their native haunts, and (o procure specimen!:, dead and olive, for German museums and Zoological irarilens.

TTis oponini; chanter has mv headimr, "The Traced* of Civilisation." and. after rnferi-in? to what modern travel and invention have done to open nn r.lmosf everv nook and corner, and to annihilate time and snnce. he says: "But. side by side with this ntne nrocress. much is heimr destroyed that, hiiherto has been nndieturhed. workin i» out its evolution in harmonv with lis environment. Far from the smoky centres of civilisation with tlinir rn«h and turmoil, and Iho uncasim? throb anrl ratlin of their machinery, there is at. this present moment homer enacted a prove and moving anil tininue trairedv.

'' As the eTtilnrei' rutldesslv ptirsties Ms victorr in overv direction, lie _ <tf>airnvs. direcily and indireetlv. overvthim? that •■sinnd=: in bis way. The orieinnl 1 nn»F? of entire eonlinenls have In srn under whpii tliev cannol hit il off with the invader. With ilicni disaonenrs a rich and stilendid fauna, which for thousands of years has made existence for the natives, but vhiMi now in a few years is recklessly slaughtered. Never before in the hislorv of the world have whole hordes of animals—the larirer ami stronger animals esnooial'v—been killed off so speedily by man. "Tho flora follows the fanna. Primeval forests are destroyed—or. at. least, injured— ned wonded districts often chamred into artificial ■ deserts. With the colonist who drives out the aborigines, there come in other animals, which help to drive out the ahovivinal fauna : and in the same wav tho voßeinh'e world is supplanted. Kitchen gardens and weeds spread everywhere, imprinti"t[ a new stamn niion the flora. Those dm are familiar with all these circumstances cannot be ni doubt as to what is bound to follow. The result must indnhituhly ho this; that the colonist, forcinp overvthini under his rule, will destroy overythint! urelcss to him or in las way. and will seek to have only such flora ;uul fauna as answer to his needs and tastes."

Afior roferrinir to llio Imlinns and other races which am disappearing before civiliration, the author passes in review order before his readers a numlier of animal.* wiped out. or being wiped out. "The Hudson Hav Company has made heavy inroad* on a number of fur-bearing animals in its own region. The fur of a sea-otter is now wortli over £105; but a complete skin of this a' inial, such as could be exhibited in a museum, has for years past boon unobtainable." What he lias to aav on the whale, peeing that wo have jtisl had Mr Bullon ainoiiot us, is interesting. In former times, Vfith their primitive methods of killing, the whale might. have existed indefinitely, but with modern scientific methods, and lire inanv uses to which the whale is being put, ils extinction is in sight It has taken long aem of centurie, for the whale to have evolved its present forn' but a foK centuries at mofi will see its end. " Large schools of whales are Mil! to be seen in- the Arrtic regions a"d ft ill redden the waters, year in year out. with their blood, shed in it < futile conflict with an overpowering enemy. But soon all tb : ' will belong to the realm of legend and tradition, and in future timiN man will stand in wonder lvfore the scantv sntciinens to lx l found in the museums, preserved therein thanks to the forosiirht oi ihe few." The American bison is perhaps one of the best, illustrations of the immense slaughter instituted hv ciyilisation "A few dccade.: uro million? of America bisons roamed over their wide imtitks. To-day, million* have gouo

iio same way n.- the vanished Indian tribe liai. once lived side by side with tbern. .

Tin? number of buffalo skins dealt in by traders durinj tin' last 70 years of tlio protoding century is almost beyond belief.'' Al I lie present mornenl: the kangaroo is disappearing from Australia; the. New Zealand llora is going loc; I lie wild goats, horses, and sheep of the hill countries of Asia, tho Indian rhinoceros, the European bison, the elk of Germany, llie steinbock of the Alps, and the while-tailed gnu.

tho boutobock, and the blesbok of South Africa, are existing only under protection or in small numbers exposed to extinction; while of South African animals the true quagga, the mountain zebra, the roan antelopes, the Cape buffalo, the white rhinoceros, the black rhinoceros,,, the giraffe. the hippotamus. and the ostrich have nil disappeared us wild animals. "These, from the earliest time.*, lived beside the coloured races, which, like the American Indians, levied

their toll upon the animal kingdom without impairing it. It was left to the reckless and purposeless slaughtering indulged in by civilised man to achieve the seemingly imiiossible, and turn this thicklyinhabited region into a desert."' In addition to the insatiable slaughter of man there are introduced diseases such as rinderpest which are accelerating the extinction of the fauna of many ports of the world.

Schillings doesn't advocate non-intcr-ferenee with wild animals, but he does advocate leaving large areas undisturbed until really needed. He himself went to Africa to study the fauna us a scientist, and never killed an animal for sport. He spent, a small fortune in pursuit of knowledge and to procure specimens, alive and dead, but though unassisted by any State lie even refused to lessen his expenditure by feeding his bearers on animal food. " I maintained rigorousl" the principle of keeping my caravan (in which I had never jess than 130 men) upon a vegetable diet for the most. part, allowing them meat only to a very small extent, nml then merely as an adjunct to their meals. In the famine year of 3R9!) my provisions cost me more than 20 000 marks, which might have been brought down to a trifling sum had I taken heavier toll of tho game, as tho natives were always ready to barter vegetables for animals I had killed,' This chapter lie ends up by a plea for tlie preservation of L'ame in order that Nature in one of her aspects, may Ixi studied naturally. "Already a great number of the inmates of our zoological museums have been struck out of the book of living things, though they existed in millions in the time of our fathers." "May this cry of warning be of some

Sir H. H. Johnston, 0.C.M.G.. K.C.8., also refers to this d'stmction in a preface he writes to the hook. He says in one placc: "Public opinion should strengthen, as far as |>o ! sibio. the wise action of (rovcrnm«nts in protecting tho world's faima all I lie world over, wherever the creatures thus promoted do not. coine 'within too dangerous competition with the welfare of human beings. Moreover, it is for tho welfare of humanity in general that this ploa is entered. Tiie world will become very unintercstine if man and his few domestic animals, together with the rat, mouse, and sparrow, are its onlv inhabitants among the law! vertebrates. Man's interests must come first, but. these very interest* demand food for the intellect, the egrot, touea.'i, bird of paradise, grebe, sable, chinchilla, and fur-

I seal.art- as important as the weli-drovo'd woman. Tlio viper, lion, tijier. wolf, vulture. and rhinoceros have all ilieir places to lill in our world-picture. Tliey arc amazingly interesting. and therefore their destruction should only he carried out to the degree of keeping Iheni in their proper sphere." You see ho advocates retaining the native beauties of a country. Its individuality of fauna and flora is necessary for variety and io add to our enjoyment. THE "WEATHER. The readings of the barometer during tho past week or two seem to have been oxeopiiotinllv Jiitrh—in Dunodin, the hiirhest for over 20 years. At Roxburgh. 318 ft above level, it registered, according io Mr Beck's tiaure.s. 00.39. and in Duncdin, I I think, it reached 51. I The thermometer the other day. in ' Chrislehuro'i. went down to 22 deg, or lOdej; of frost. At Roxburgh it was 32 at. 9 a.m.. July 31, and snow falling heavily. | I had intended having a note on the approach of sprint;, hut I am always exceeding my space, am! I hit gives mo a ! frond excuse for not fulfilling my purpose, doesn't it? LOCAL HISTORY, T hope my Milton chronicler does not think T have forgotten him when I publish the following short, note on Roxburgh. What does "Tuapelta" mean, and how did Lawrence act. its name? Who named "The Tevict"? I Rovhureh. ?th August. WOO. ! Dear Marisier,—Re the name ' Rnxbureh," a verv okl resident tells mo that the first township wan on the opposite side of the river, a'erl that, it war* c.iPcd " The Teviot." He also te'l« ]iic that the present town was named by the na'ty of ei.rvr-ynrs who first surveyed it. snmo time abui' the latter end o f the aiyl.ieo A great number of our streets arc named after town* and stream* in Tt">:-bm-gli c hire OnH.n a number of ni<l miners stil' sue'k of thi« nlp.ee as "Th» Teviot." of T/fiv.'roi-cp s.= " Tuspek- " and of Clyde as ' The Dunsian."—Yrui-s, tru'v. T. S. Beck, j OTHWR enm) rwrnvDFAT'E. I lia.ee received a short arfiele. " Tho Rotaiiv of tbi Sea," from H. M. Lcvin<ro. IV A.. AT B . who i- in Denod'n iust now hrineimr bis method of teaching ti°trmiomv order the not.iee of t.l'e Education Heard. All Inline" well. T'll irive it nevt week. oxceptinir the technical part. «'M»b is bevond thoso for whom this column is intended.