NEW ZEALAND’S OUTPOSTS.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 20070, 9 April 1927, Page 7

NEW ZEALAND’S OUTPOSTS.

ISLANDS OF THE SOUTH. BIRD AND PLANT LIFE. AN INTERESTING STUDY. “A delightful and interesting trip under ideal conditions,” was how Mr H. Guthrie Smith described the voyage ' round the southern islands by the Government steamer Tutanekai, to a Daily Times reporter last evening. Mr Guthrie Smith, who is known throughout New Zealand as a keen student of the indigenous fauna and flora of the Dominion, made the trip with the special object of observing the bird and plant life on the islands, and although he discovered no new species of either, he was able to study at close quarters a number of birds and plants- (particularly the former), which are now. unfortunately, becoming all too rare on the mainland. Throughout the trip the weather was favourable, and the party was thus able to land on all the islands visited. These were the Snares, the Antipodes, the Campbell, the Bounty, and the Auckland Islands. The Snares were the first port of call, and here was found a great variety of bird life. One bird which was specially plentiful waa the Snares fern bird, which is peculiar to these islands, and differs a good deal from the fern bird found on the mainland. Black robins were also seen in large numbers. These were smaller than the mainland species, and were jet black Bellbirds and tuis were also numerous The robins and fern birds were absolutely tame, and showed no sign of fear on the approach of human beings. The Auckland Islands, said Mr Guthrie Smith, were, probably, the most interesting of all. Here, the steamer made a stay of two days and a-half, and a good deal of time was spent by the party on shore, and photographs were secured of many rarely-seen sea-birds ( in their latural haunts. On this is found the mighty wandering albatross, the sooty albatross, and the flightless duck, and some excellent pictures were taken of albatrosses on their nests. Sea-lions were numerous, but were not so plentiful as they were ir former years. Although the bitter winds which sweep the islands make it almost impossible for anything but the hardiest plants to exist, such specimens as were found grew in great profusion, and there were found among them many rare species, such as the stilbocarpus polaris, with its large pumpkin-like leaf, two members of the speargrass family—pleurophyllum and ligusticum, and the rarely-seen celmesia, or, as it is better known, mountain daisy Both the Snares and the Auckland Islands are well 'timbered, and in parts are densely covered with ironwoocl trees (rata), which, although stunted by the wind, grow strongly. ' A day and a-half was spent at the Campbell Islands, which a.e best known by the j fact that sheep have been run there for some years. Asked his opinion as to the suitability of these islands for running sheep, Mr Guthrie Smith, who describes himself as ‘‘a reasonably intelligent sheep | farmer,” asserted that it was a misfortune that sheep should ever have been put on the Campbell Islands at all. About 3000 sheep were shorn there annually, hut | he, personally, could not see how the ven- j ture could pay. Apart from this, they ■ not only destroyed the native trees and plants, but undoubtedly affected the ; bird life as well. On the Camp- j bells, a royal albatross was seen 1 nesting, and also thousands of mollymawks There were no trees of any si/e on the islands which were covered with dense low-growing scrub. . | An interesting four hours were put in on the Antipodes. The party, on landing, climbed through battalions of crested and red-eyed penguins to the top of the island • Here, two different species of parakeet were found, .both, strangely enough, liv - ing in burrows. One was green with ared head, the other the same colour, hut with a yellowish breast. Numerous ground larks, similar to those found in Now Zca- j land, but with brownish breasts, were also seen. Walking on this island was easier i , than on any of the others, the surface being mainly of a spongy, peaty nature, j and, to a large extent, free of any shrubs, j The vegetafion. from a botanical point of view, was intensely interesting, and in a ! sheltered snot two different kinds of the | small shrub coprosma were found grow- ! ing strongly. In flip open, small gentians, ; hchena, and filmy fern abounded, and on ■ all drainage lines, a rough, hard fern j seemed to he thriving. One or two sperms i of terrestrial orchids were also dV’overpd. I “We saw them first, then smelt them, I ♦hen heard them,” said Mr Guthrie S.'-dth, : in speaking of the Bounty Islands “As : soon as wo anchored, the small saloon of ; the steamer was filled with the mingled 1 odour of guano and oil from the countless j myriads of penguins which inhabited the j rock, which is in realitv. the tons of a I sunken mass of land.” No vegetation at ( alt existed on the island, and the whole ' surface was covered with penguins, which

descended to and ascended from the water in a continual stream. On going ashore, one was struck by the endless whistling noise coming from these birds, which rose to a piercing yell when the birds were disturbed. In the midst of this vast colony, a number of mollymawks were nesting, and although they appeared to agree with the penguins, there seemed to be a species of armed neutrality between the two factions. On the dins at the southern_ end of the island Mr Guthrie Smith saw a torn of a species he'had never seen before. It was greyish white in colour, and had a white crown topping a collar of black It was nesting in the cliff, and. unfortunately, was in such an inaccessible spot, that it could not be approached as closely as the observer wished. “To all New Zealanders who really value the Dominion’s very rare plants and birds,’’ said Mr Guthrie Smith, “I would advocate the preserving of all the islands south of Stewart Island as sanctuaries for native flora and fauna. Our penguins, if we do not care for them, will soon go the way that the whales and seals are going, and unless steps are taken for their preservation they will, in time, become extinct.” In conclusion, Mr Smith paid a tribute to Captain Bollons and his officers. •In Captain Bollons. he said, they had a man whose knowledge of the bird-life of the southern islands was nothing less than vasl and his heart was in the preservation of their plant and bird-life. As the guide and counsellor of an expedition such as that which had just returned, he was the risrht man in the right place. All land ings were made without the slightest dif fienlty. and such was the trust of the pas senders in the experience and ability of the officers in chare© 0 f the boats that at no time did thev feel the least anxiety