IN TOUCH WITH NATURE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 19966, 7 December 1926, Page 2

IN TOUCH WITH NATURE

BIRDS IN FIJI AND NEW ■ ZEALAND. By J. Drummond. F.L.S., F.Z.S. The pretty white-eye, silver-eye, blightbird, winter migrant, or penny-weight—-the Maoris named it tauhou, stranger, when it made its first appearance in New Zealand some 70 years ago —is useful in Fiji as well as in New Zealand. Colonel R. Snow, of Christchurch, who has returned from a visit to Fiji, states that there it justifies its reputation as a bird of good report by attacking the abundant insect life, and by never taking fruit. The little fruit it takes in New Zealand may bo conceded to it in view of its services. New Zealand birds, as an avifauna, are characterised by dull plumage, in th'e same way as New Zealand’s flowers, as a flora, are notejl for their white, yellow, or green blooms—the ratas, the pobutukawa, the scarlet kowhai, and the scarlet mistletoe are brilliant exceptions—and Now Zealand’s insects for their subdued, even drab colours. Fiji’s avifauna has many brilliant birds. As the chief glory of that avifauna Colonel Snow selects the doves and the fruitpigeons. He mentions particularly the nutmeg-pigeon, with its iridescent, -winecoloured plumage, and the Chili pigeon. The most elaborately decorated of Fiji’s parrots is the yellow-breasted species, 22in long. On Kandavu Island, the beautiful Pyrrhulopsis splendens is outside the pale of the law because it likes fruit, and it is caught by the natives and sold to tourists, but it easily holds its own, in spite of its unprotected condition. Another parrot, which seems to share the title of one of New Zealand’s parrots, kaka, although it belongs to a different species, was taken by Samoans, who made special expeditions to Fiji to shoot it, in order that they might use its feathers in their mats; but a beneficent Governor of Fiji, a birdlover, put an end to the practice. Colonel Snow mention? another New Zealander, a somewhat notorious one. the long-tailed cuckoo. In New Zealand it selects grey warblers, tom-tits, and other small birds as foster-parents for its young; in Fiji, strangely, it places its eggs in the nest of a seabird, the noddy tern. One of Fiji’s most plentiful and most attractive small birds is the fire-tailed finch. The male has brilliant red on his crown and his tail; the female’s red is not so brilliant. The Kandavu shrike’s wonderful colours are matched by insectivorous habits, which should be sufficient protection to it. The graceful little swiftlet may be seen towards evening, hawking mosquitoes and other insects. It nests in a cavern, and is a connection of the swallow that an edible nest, favoured by Chinese. The largest bird-of-prey on Fiji is a magnificent bird, with a Wing-spread of about 4ft. It is “Tuivucilevu,” “Monarch of the Marshes.” Two harriers, a black falcon and .. beautiful goshawk, are members of the same group. There are a white owl and a rare cihnamon owl. The Fijian redbreast looks like the famous Robin Redbreast on account of the colour of its vest, but is more closely related to New Zealand’s tom-tits. Fiji’s most tuneful warbler, Colonel Snow concludes, is the wattled honey-eater, “which breaks into song at sunrise and at sunset.” There seems to be an impression that godwits—known sometimesffiy their Maori name, kuaka—leave New Zealand on their annual migration to Siberia, where they nest, from one jumpimr-off place, probably in a single vast flock. Mr Frank Buckland, the famous English naturalist, gave the impression his imprematuro when he wrote an interesting magazine article describing the godwit’s assemblage at Spirits’ Bay, near North Cape, and their departure from that desolate and romatic place, from which, the Maoris believed, spirits leaped to enter the other world. Mr W. Rose, Awanui, points out, clearly and forcibly, the improbability of. the theory that godwits select any particular place for their departure. He writes: “I cannot help feeling convinced that people are under a wrong impression in accepting the belief that they assemble at Parenga Harbour, Mangonui County, North Auckland, from all parts of New Zealand and take their departure in one large flock. I know the place where they are supposed to assemble and depart from, and in my opinion it would not accommodate them all at the same time. Further, the gradual but certain decrease in numbers as the summer wanes is quite apparent, even to a casual observer. I feel certain that the godwits depart from New Zealand as they arnye—one flock after another. I have inquired from a number of people whether they have seen the-'birds assemble at Parenga and leave New Zealand in the way supposed. Only one claimed to have seen it, and I would not take him seriously. "There are people who, believing a thing, will say they have seen it. In my opinion that is the case with godwits. I would like to know whether anv reliable person—someone whose word is above suspicion—can claim to. have seen these birds congregate and leave in the wav so often described.” Mr Rose mentions the fact, well established by other observers that some godwits remain m New Zealand throughout the year. .Ho offers the theory that these are old birds, unequal to the stress of a long flight. No godwits have been known to nest in New Zealand, although in the summer they are present on the shores of this Dominion in countless numbers. A Hastings correspondent writes:—“A few weeks ago two of my little ones, looking for birds’ nests among trees along a river bank, found a nest of ducks e D gs, hidden by the freshly-grown branches of a cut-off willow, six or seven fe ®* hl S“’ to a small backwater pond. . a F e^b^ t urn them home, but were advised to xeturn them safely to the nest, A , fo ' v xf° the young ducks were hatched. .When dis turbed they dropped oyer the side of the tree-trunk and in an instant were hidden from sight by biding and keeping qme . The watcher presently saw some movement litnd the roots of the tree and grasses; but the chief. point of -Merest? that later, towards evening, the same day, the s o> . Spsfibll U rhVthyy could, unaided, return and again. Mr R Norman, of Lawrence, dealing with the beliet that the white-eye, or waxeve arrived in New Zealand in lh ‘Mi/ties ” dives the year of its arrival in s*«rss3s s SX&&&S& seme time previously. If the specie arrived in 1358," Mr Norman states, it did not take long to scatter a II over tne country ” He finds that white-eyes, it ted during the winter, become very tame. Loey cat sugar, oatmeal, soaked bread, moat, boiled potatoes and raw apples, and fly to moot a person who feeds tnem Amount their services, fie mentions destruction of the diamond-back moths grubs in the turnip fields. He finds that the eggs hatch in seven days, and that in a further seven days the young are flying. White-eyes die "regarioas usually, but at the breeding time, according to Mr Normans observations. they are solitary. A friend of ms who wont from the Wauaka to the Islands in 1872, was visited by a flock pt white-eyes once. The white-eye has a suddued plumage, but is one of the most ea>uy identified small iprds m New .f cal £““ account of a ring of tiny white Hdthcrs around each eye. lie general colow ot its plumage are bright olive on the head and over the tail, dark grey on the oack, yellow on the throat, white on the abdomen, and light chestnut on the flanks. In winter the chin and throat are light grey. white-eye during European occupation of these parts, has spread over all the Nortn Island and the South Island,, and t the Chatham, Auckland and Campbell Islands. It belongs to the same family-as the tui and the bell-bird, the Mehphagidee. characterised by a protractible tongue, tarnished at the tip with a bunch of suit fibres. An insect sent in by Mr H. H. Jenamson, Waipukurau, Hawke’s Ray, is very destructive to gum-trees, and is interesting for other reasons. It is known popularly as the gum-tree scale, and it attacks* ail gums, particularly the bluegum. The whiteeye, mentioned by Colonel Snow and Mr Norman, is one of its enemies, iho tin, tlie fantail, the blackbird and the songthrush are on the list, but its greatest enemy is the ladybird, one species of which was introduced from Australia to deal with the scale. The result is that Mr D. Miller, Government Entomologist, is able to report that the scale is well under control in the South Island, and there is Rule hope for same success n. the "North Island. The gum-freo scale insect, like many other scale insects, exudes honoy-uo—. Collecting in the foliage and on the bark,

this suffocates the tree. Mr Miller, tracing tho scale's life-history, states that if the branch or twig of a badly infested tree is examined, closely packed grain-uke bodies are seen attached to the bark. Each is a globular sac, about three-twenty-rifths of an inch long. The female lies in the 6ac. Sho is oval, somewhat flattened, has six well-developed legs but no wings, and is biood-red in colour. From beneath her head there projects a delicate, hairhke, proboscis. It is a thrust through an opening in the enclosing sac and into tho bark of the tree. In this way, the insect feeds on plant juices. When a tree is infested heavily the drain is so severe that it soon wilts and it may die. The males, which live in small, while, cottony sacs, are tiny two-winged fragile insects, dark red. Each, when young loses its proboscis and develops a pair of wings and a pair of long white, thread-like appendages. The females do not lay eggs, but, in the autumn and the spring and December and February, vast numbers of young aie born alive and crawl off the sac that was their cradle. During the birth of a breed, the young ones are so small and so numerous that they form a reddish dust on fcrres. Winds carry them long distances. Landing on healthy trees in a fresh district, they spre-ad infestation. The relation of pievailing winds and mountain ranges to the spread of the scale lias been studied, and "Mr Miller states that spread is go-vernwl almost solely by those factors The insect made its first appearance in New Zealand at Timani. reaching that port, it is believed. on the Viavk of hardwoods irupoited from Australia.