IN TOUCH WITH NATURE.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 21198, 2 December 1930, Page 2

IN TOUCH WITH NATURE.

HOMES IN THE SPREADING BRANCHES. By J. Drumuokd, F.L.S., F.Z.S. Notes on the habits' of the North Island crow published a few weeks ago were fortunate in interesting many people in the North Island and the South Island, particularly in leading Mr G. S. Whiteside, of Whakatane, to record his experiences, adding one of thd most valuable contributions to the literature of these New Zealand members of the crow family, utterly unlike in voice, song, . habits, and disposition the crows of any other country. The chief value of Mr Whiteside’s record lies in the fact that although the North Island crow has been known to science for at least 95 years, this is the first time its nesting habits have been made known Mr A. Reischek, an early naturalist and taxidermist, and a very good observer described two nests, one in a clump of asteha about 30 feet from the ground the other in the crown of a miro tree; but Mr Whiteside has given a detailed description of the building operations and of the crow domestic arrangements.

Bi ought up in the bush, previous references to the North Island crow took Jlr Whitesire back to bis early boyhood, almost CO years ago. Like many old colonists, he gives the crow its musical Maori name, kokako. "Around my father’s small clearing in the midst of a vast, scarcely disturbed forest, near what is now Whangarata, about 35 miles south of Auckland city,’’ he writes, kokakos could be, seen in great numbers. We used to call them bellbirds on account of their musical notes, like church-bell chimes, in the early mornings. They generally went in pairs. Sometimes there- would be a companionship of trees, but 1 believe these were merely members of a family nest, not a plurality of wives They fed on the ground a great deal, where they looked for food; their long legs proving an advantage in flopping pver the verdure. With a younger brother, I was greatly interested m watching a pair begin housekeeping. The site chosen by them for their domestic centre was a matipo tree in a clump of laterai branches about 15 to 20 feet above the ground. Pieces of sticks about the thickness of a boy’s wrist, and about 18 inches long, formed nmi j 0 Next > smaller twigs and dead branches were used to construct nnL h T 0I u e ' Ifc was tlie r °ughest-built nest I have ever seen made by‘a bird ™ y ng e *P ernence in observing h rd-hfe _ Jn New Zealand. This rudely made neat was poorly lined with a few leaves. Later three large mottled eggs were' seen in the nest.

My brother and 1 used to climb a f ee £ away from the nest almost daily to have a peep into the nest, to see how matters were progressing. The owners were fairly tame and were not much disturbed by our curiosity. Soon the female began her long sit on the nest, while her mate kept watch on a smaU tree near by; and chanted an encouraging note, sometimes bringing food to his mate, ,or at other times taking a shift at keeping the eggs from getting cold, while she took a little exorcise. Our interest in . the domestic affairs of the pair was quickened when, one spring morning, three large featherless birds broke from their shells, their heads almost as big as their bodies, with wide gaping mouths. We missed scarcely a day in visiting, our pets. As the young birds grew, we assisted: in the duty of feeding them with worms and pubs that we collected for them. We took these morsels to the nest, made a slight rustle, or gave a gentle tap on one of the young bird’s large bill, and immediately .three 'large mouths were opened wide, gaping for the expected treat, and all the while making a noise as though they were famishing for food. y° un o birds greedily swallowed our offerings, and invariably, like Oliver Twist, gaped for more.

When the young birds were just about ready to. abandon their nest, we removed them to my father’s nikau whare, where they readily fell in with all the civilisation wo could offer them. They were quite quiet, and readily adoptable. At first we kept them in a coop for a time. Afterwards we allowed them to go with the hens and chickens. Ihey would eat almost anything we gave them. This, I believe, caused the death of one—erroneous feeding. They were so tame that somebody inadvertently trod on one and broke its thigh. It had to be destroyed. Later, the third fell a prey to a tom cat. We tried to bring home our kokako’s nest, as another specimen of wild birds’ handiwork, but the moment the nest was disturbed it fell to pieces and became merely a large armful of sticks. The nest was so differetit from the lovely finished nests and architecture of the grey warbler or the fantail. In those primitive days, shotguns were our most useful articles for procuring meat or fowl for our scantily furnished dining table. I remember we tried (misnamed) bellbird pie, but it was not very satisfactory. The dark flesh, of these- birds was not inviting to the look, or relishing when cooked.

“Years later, when I qualified as a New Zealand- land surveyor, I was for a long period laying out virgin country, preparatory for settlement. I had great opportunities to observe the habite of native birds, which at that time were very plentiful; but I. think none was more interesting than the antics of the New Zealand crow. When I took a trip to the Mother Country a few years ago I journeyed from one end of England tq the other on a push bike and traversed one end of Ireland to the other by the same means. I was not satisfied till I had shot a British crow to compare it with the kokako, but I could not see much likeness in it to its New Zealand cousin.”

A shorter note on the North Island crow is from Mrs L, Faram, Bushmere, Gisborne: “I recently stayed with my sister inland from Te Araroa, in the vicinity of East Cape. In the bush surrounding her home the native crow, or kokako, aa_ the Maoris call it, seems famy plentiful. As your correspondents state, they sing their beat in the early morning. They are the most beautiful New Zealand songsters I have heard. During the day we often saw them perched on the tallest trees in the bush. They came close to the house, but at times it was very difficult to locate them on account of ' their powers of ventriloquism.

“ We watched one of them on an afternoon. It seemed to be repeating a chord beginning on a high sustained note, and ending abruptly on the lowest note. At the beginning of each chord it arched its neck, slowly raised its wings, and then lowered them as it uttered its notes, until, as the last note was uttered, they were again in their normal position. This performance was repeated for a considerable time. It reminded us of physical exercises being done to music. We hod not seen a crow do this before, but from statements in your weekly column I conclude that it may have been for the benefit of an admiring female, although there were no other birds in sight.” Mrs Faram adds: “ Tuis are plentiful in that district, but there seemed to be none in that patch of bush. We thought that the crows may have kept them out.”

The South Island crow was known to science long before the North Island crow. Members of Captain Cook’s expedition saw it in Dusky Sound 157 years ago. Naturalists on Cook’s vessel noted that it was often on the ground