IN TOUCH WITH NATURE.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 15821, 21 July 1913, Page 9

IN TOUCH WITH NATURE.

NOTES ON NATURAL HISTORY IN NEW ZEALAND. (By James Dbvmmoxd, F.L.S., F.Z.S.) A correspondent has asked me to supply him with tne 'aate on which uw Kaitapo was last seen. 1 have looked through the records, and tmd tne tollowiug reiereiice in a paper on Dusky -bound, written uy Mr h. llcnry, Uovernment resident' m charge of me .Resolution Island Reserve, and published in the "Transactions" of the i\ew Zealand institute in July, 1895:—"Koas and woodhens are plentiful in tho bush on this island, ano. also nearly all the small birds, inciuuing crows and thrushes, but, there are no qr grey kiwis, 'iho kakapos on the mainland' are breeding this year, so 1 did not like to disturb their curious arrangements by removing them, especially. when 1 iounu tiiat there were plenty in favourite places, but there are long stretches of coast without any. Ull the south 6ide of Dusky, east of Cooper bland, there are two great landslips, some hundreds of acres, covered with green scrub, where we heard them drumming in dozens in January. In February, near Mount Foster, at the moutli of Wet Jacket Arm, I found three nests in about an hour. Further up, at our camp opposite the island, I iound several nests, each with two young ones. 1 never found a male near the nest, and I think they know nothing about it.' The mother tramps away, and carries home food so industriously that she is all draggled and worn, and towards the end of her task she becomes so exceedingly poor that sometimes I thought she would die. Her young, however, .are just balls of fat until about the end of May, when many of them are as heavy as the largest old males. Soon after she ceases to feed them they rapidly become poor. The food that they have oeen fed on is nearly all done. 1 think that many of them 'die before' they learn to forage for themselves. All this time the old males are very fat, which shows that they did not exert themselves to feed the young; probably they took the best of everything for themselves. Resolution Island as a whole is not a good place for kakapos, because tutu and fuchsia plants are scarce, but colonies will do well in many places where figtrees are plentiful."

The Hon. J. Allen, Minister of Defence, during his Tecent visit to England, made inquiries in regard to steps taken to protect birds. He collected a great deal of literature on the subject, and this he will submit to the Hon. H. D. Bell, Minister of Internal Affairs, who may introduce legislation this session to give the native birds of New Zealand mora protection than they have had in the past. In Christchurch a few weeks ago Mr Allen said that he found that the movement was very widespread in England, members of all classes of the community supporting it, and that it had extended far_ beyond the boundaries of the Empire, being now quite international in character. The movement is led by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds. One of its most effective means-of conducting. its operations is a- quarterly magazine, entitled Bird Notes and News. A copy of the spring number for this year has been cent to me by Mr W. C. Somers, of Auckland. In it there is an article which will be specially interesting to New Zealandeis, as "it deals with the position of the heron, or egret, which, if pot identical with tie white heron of this country, is very closely allied to it. This bird is strictly protected in New Zealand, but in other "places it is still the victim of collectors of osprey feathers. The extent of this baneful trade is shown by the fact that at one feather sale in London there were offered 12,4000z of ospreys, in addition to 52S skins. One ounce represents the breeding plumes of six birds. The quantity offered, therefore, accounted for no fewer than 75,000 birds. That is not all, as it does not deal with the young birds, which are left to die of starvation when the adults arc taken from the nests. _In .America there is strong indignation against the marauders, because there both the egret and the snowy heron have done notable service to the farmers by eating caterpillaa and mole crickets, and in that way averting insect invasions.

A sheep-farmer in Southland has sought peiraission to use this column in order to say a few words in favour of the harrier. He describes it as one of the greatest enemies of the rabbit, and he suggests that it should bo protected. At present it is one of the few native birds of New Zealand which do not enjoy .the protection of the law. There are many people who will agree with the Southland farmer that it deserves more consideration than it receives. It attacks native pigeons, raids the nests of pnkekos, ducks, and grebe, M d occasionally descends upon the chickens in the poultry-yard. But to rabbits, rats, and mice, as an early New Zealand naturalist once said, it is "winced destruction." It destroys many more rabbits than is generally believed. On the wholeMt may be eaid that it does more good than harm. _ I

do not think that acclimatisation societies now place a price upon its head ; it bears that indignity no longer; but some 20 or 30 years ago there was hardly a society in the country -which did not pay heav'ly for harriers' bills and feet. At one time a fairly large trade in harriers' heads was carried on. In the eariy "seventies" the slaughter on the Cheviot Estate was represented by an average of between 10 and 12 harriers a day for a considerable time, and it was estimated that a thousand a year were killed there year after year. Fifteen were found on a Halswell farm one morning. Strychnine was the' weapon used most effectively against the birds. It was placed in a dead carcase or a piece of meat, ana caused death soon after it was" eaten. Traps often were set for the hawks. Although the great slaughter has ceased, the harrier is still fair game for anybody with a gun, and.it is still suffering a kind of martyrdom.

Sir Walter Buller was one of the harriers' best friends. In the second edition of his work,published in 1888, he expresses an opinion that in New Zealand tlie'wholesale destruction of hawk 6 is a doubtful policy. "Tlie rapacious birds," he said, "have an important part to perform.in the economy of Nature, and birds like the harrier, which are partly inse'etiverous, are ,too valuable to the practical agriculturist to be destroyed with impunity, although they may occasionally attack a sickly lamb in the flock, pr swoop down on an inviting turkey. The damage to a flock where these hawks abourd. no doubt, is greatly over-rated. It is true, however, that tlio species sometimes does hunt in packs, as I have counted as many of 20 of them hovering over a small mob of sheep detached from the main flock, awl three of them have been seen to attack a full-grown turkey, and, acting in concert, to overpower and kill their quarry." In his "Supplement," published in 1905, Sir Walter Buller expresses his opinion in Btill stronger terms. "The harrier," he says "has done more to suppress the rabbit nuisance in New Zealand than all the bloodthirsty carnivore, such as weasels, 6toats, and ferrets, introduced by the Government, put together. Such birds should be proccted in every way; they should not be noisoned or shot, as is done in many narts of the country, from a mistaken notion that they are the enemies of sheep. That the harrier does occasionally, under press of hunger, kill and devour a newly-born or sickly lamb cannot be denied, but. in these matters it is well to strike a balance, and to ascertain whether the services of this raptor are not worth such a little sacrifice as the occasional loss of a weakly Jamb." There is also the evidence of Mr T. 11. Fott6, who could not account for the "extraordinary prejudice" against the harrier.