IN TOUCH WITH NATURE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 19206, 24 June 1924, Page 2

IN TOUCH WITH NATURE

FACES IN ROCK

By J. DaxmuoND, F.L.S., F.Z.3.

The Hon. G.. J. Garland, M.L.C., Auckland, commenting on notes in this column on Ware Ft ill and the Abbey Rocks, near Whangarei, states that limestone rocks on tho Manu Road, about four miles from Whangarei, have been weathered and eroded into many surprising shapes, including birds, beasts, trees, and human faces. Tho fantastic shapes come out most sharply in the morning, when the sun strikes the cliff, and they show up in photographs. Sail Rock, seen about an hour before Whangarei Heads are passed by passengers on entering the harbour, is described by Mr Garland as one of tho most remarkable limestone rocks he has seen. It rises out of the sea some 300 ft. If the master of the vessel is good enough to steam close to it, the faces of Mr Gladstone, Henry the Eighth, Reef-eaters, and less known people may be made out. The profiles of the faces are sharpest when the sun is well in the west. The shadows are shorter when the sun is at its meridian, and grooves sculptured by erosion are not seen so easily then, but a good view is obtained at almost any time on a fine day. Tho rock bears no vegetation a little moss and a few stunted ferns in deep groves. Seen at first, it looks like a cutter, with galf topsails set. Mr P. G. Morgan, Director of tho Geological Survey, states that, economically, Whangarei Comity is one of the most fortunate districts in New Zealand as far as limestone is concerned. Limestone Island, Whangarei Harbour, used by the New Zealand Portland Cement Company, is composed of hardly anything but limestone, almost perfect for the manufacture of cement. It is 96 acres in area, rises 212 ft above sea level and is estimated to contain 30,000,000 tons of cement rock above high-water mark.

“A little acrobat, one of those to whom Dr Casey Wood, of Chicago, awards tho blue ribbon for acrobatic feats, made a practice of clearing up tile flies in our Imrae for several weeks,” Mr H. Digby James wrote from Swiss Avenue, Wanganui, on June 1. ‘‘lt entered by the front bedroom window, and went through almost every room, sometimes darting about over our heads wLilo we sat down at our meals in the kitchen. Last week I saw one in the workshop of a garage, in the middle of our city, far from garden or trees, in the midst of t/ic rattle and noise. My children are deeply interested in these blue-ribbon acrobats, tne most interesting and most lovable of all our birds.” Mr James’s visitor is a pied fanUiil. Ho has travereed forests m the backblocks of Taranaki, in the Wanganui hinterland, on the shores of Lake Taupo, and in the bushland of Mamaku, and never has seen there a olack fantail, a species he found plentiful in the South island when ho ,was a boy. Black tantails have been reported from the .North Island, but only occasionally. The pied species is equally plentiful in both islands. There is no conclusive explanation of the black fant-ail's almost complete absence from the North Island. Mr James asks if Now Zealand is the only country in which fantails are round. The answer is that the two species of New Zealand’s fantails are this Dominion’s exclusive possession, but that members of the same n-onus, Rhipidura—in the relationship, practically of cousins—give an equal chaim to country scenes in Australia. All iantails belong to tho family of the flycatchers.

The large black-backed, gull seen m every New Zealand harbour, and often far from the sea in mountainous districts, is one of the few native birds of the Dominion the Jaw does not protect. It was protected many years but was outlawed at the request of tanners, who accused it of pecking the eyes out ot sheep and lambs. Mr J. C. Myers and Mr. E. Atkinson, Wellington, iVho have given it a now trial, believe that in districts where sheep-farming is not tho leading industry, it should be replaced on tho protected list. It is said to be injurious on sheep farms, but no definite proof is available that it kills healthy sheep or lambs, they state. It cut#, to some extent, into a unique little industry on the western coast of Auckland province, by stealing toheroas. It flies mto tho air with a toheroa, drops it on to a rock or on tho hard sand, and eats the mollusc in the shell. Against these counts, Messrs Mvers and Atkinson place the gull’s Indisputable usefulness, all the year round, in season and out of season, as a general scavenger on the beaches. and as a da stroycr" of noxious insects and their grubs.

Tho smaller and greyer gull, com ‘ monly known as the mackerel gull, has not been accused of any offence Its usefulness lies in its untiring attacks on insects on pastures and cultivated ground In 'February flocks of these gulls were seen feeding over pastures in North Auckland. They disturbed insects, probably moths, from the grass, and pursued in the air A member of the species, killed in North Auckland in March, was fonnu to have eaten 14 earthworms, averaging SAinchcs long, the chrysalis of a cut■worm, and an adult moth of the cutworm. This dainty sea-bird seems to make itself a nuisance to other seabirds bv takim' their eggs ana young, but this does not "rob it of the goodwill of Mess,,, Myers and Atkinson, who speak higuly of its economic value and its sestheuc charm. They have cleared gulls of the offence of spreading tho cattle-tick in North Auckland. This charge seems lo have been based on the discovery of seabird ticks on gulls, and the confusing of those insects wth cattle teks.

Tire cattle tick, by. the way, has come under Mr Myers’s observation. He finds that the female lays about 1000 eggs at one time. It is a surprising number, but close relations in other countries lay as many as 10,000 eggs at a time. Males of the cattle tick are so rare that Mr Myers favours the probability that the females are parthenogenetic- that is, they l ave tho convenient power of laying fertile egg* without the help of males. The cattle ' tick is in the surprising condition of lacking organs of sight, hearing and taste. It gains almost all its knowledge of the outside world bv touch and smell: “The General surface of the skin is sensi live to" Ihd.t, probably, but otherwise the tick is absolutely blind. It seems to crawl at random to tho top of herbage, to await a host. It has no hearing to help it; but two legs, which often are used in’ a feeler-liko way, have a keen’ sense of touch, and each has a tiny vesicle, known as Haller’s organ, whitfh functions as an organ of smell.” Under favourable artificial conditions a cattle tick has survived without food for nine months.-

No fewer than 10 mammals tn North Auckland act as hosts for the cattle tick. About seven species of introduced and domestic birds are used by tlve cattletick in the same way, but practically to a negligible extent. Cattle are used bv t’no tick more than any other farm animal, hut horses and hares are attacked heavily. No cattle ticks have been recorded from kiwis, which are attacked by bird-ticks, or from any other native birds. The starlinir is one of the most effective enemies of the cattle-tick. On a farm examined by Mr Myers, starlings, unaided. practically and completely controlled the cattle-ticks. My Myers does not import a proposal to introduce the African oxpecker, as it is injurious to cattle, and the starling, he believes, will do the work as well as any freshly imported bird could do it. The cattle-tick—-its official name, almost, is as formidable as its methods, Hiemaphysalis bispinosi ] ias its headquarters in Indian and other Asiatic countries. Its New Zealand headquarters are in the Aorlh Auckland Peninsula. It does not seem to like the climate further south. Five theories have Keen advanced to explain its presence in New Zealand. None is based on observed facts, and the most plausible, in Mr Myers’s opinion, are those that place the blame on migratory birds and on Indian sacks and bagging ' material. The first cattle-tick definitely recorded in New Zealand was caught in December. 1910. Seven years later, the little pest had made its presence

much felt. Two years latex- still, cattledips were erected in the infested areas, and the dipping of cattle, horses and dogs was made compulsory. In 1923 sheep were added to the list of stock that must he dipped before they are taken from an infested area.