LAND AND WATER

Otago Witness, Issue 2152, 23 May 1895, Page 34

LAND AND WATER

The Toieri Advocate states that a larga number of ku<g3fhers have lately been soen in the Otakift and Henley districts. These beautiful birds have suddenly appeared in numbers, and the other day a traveller counted 18 kingfishers within half an hour. Iheir daik green and geld plumage flashing in the sun looked very pretty indeed. Mr Joseph Pollard, master of the South Shields Swimming Club, t om pit ted his 3000 conBeoutive d-«i!y bathes in the open sea. There wa? r strange occurrence in Yorkshire Street, Rochdale, on a recent Tuesday evening. About half -past five o'clock the cap of a fire-plug on the roadway near the end of James street wns foiced iff by the pressure cf wafer, and the result waa that a ttreom of water pourod into the street for some minutes. A number of people collected round the hole from which the water was istuing, and wore watching it with interest, when to their groat turpriso a fine trout wes thrown out with bbc water. The fish was caught by a boy, but it squirmed out of hi» hand, Mid escaped down a fewer gr«te. A little later anothtr menu bercf the fmnytribo was thrown out, »nd this was captured by a eon </f Mr Jatnr s Wild, pli'mb.T, of 193 Yorkshire etrfcofc, who carried it homo, and pl&ccd ib in a basin of water. Ib proved to be ft fine specimen of the trout specie*, meaeuring 9^iu in length, sln* in girth, and weighing 707,. It died during tbe night after its csp'ure, but if it had been placed in runniog water instead of in a basin it wou'd propably hivt3 lived for come time longer. The ■water which escaped from the plug comes from tho Buckley Pasture rc-jf rvoir.— Rochdale Observer. Prom Tenrargn a peculiar fish has been sent to tbo Auckland Museum and is now on view. It is a new species of the genus Tetrodon, and belong* to a family commonly known as globe Esbes. It diifcis from the Tetrodon ricreii which is known off the New Zealand coatt ia that it has no spines on its back or aides, they being wholly confined to the abdomen. Mcsb of the genus are unfit for food, gome of them being extremely poieonous. At Port Undctwcod last week Mr Deacon captured, with a small toggle-iron and lance, a fcauapc-rdovsn whale bebw<cu 25ft and 30ft long, which will yield about 100 gallons of oil The oil of this fi<h is said to bo oi ly second to j ihc best sperm whale oil. The whalers in Tory ' Channel are engaged in active preparation for j the coo>ing season, and three crews, piloted by Messrs John Love, Rcwi Love, and the veteran Jim Jeckson, are expected to be out this year.— Post. > Au American new spacer bas invited its readers • to proposo a name for the forthcoming opponent pi tho Valkyrie. Out of 25,000 replies we notice The Trilby, which, the water add*, means the altogether. Why did he not odd fcoo-too ? He also adds that the Englishmen might be a»kpd to call their representative the Congress, because they never pang anything. JThey seem to forget that Britannia existed last year to their Borrow aud mortification. Mr It. B. Mwrton, editor of tbe Fifibing Guzett*, has written for Messrs W«iie and Co. a practical guide for angterp, which will nppear shortly in au illustrated volume eutitled "Angling, and How to Angle." Admirers of Izaak Walton will be interested to hear that a window to his numory will shortly be placed in the j Church of St. Dtinstan'i>-io-tbc-We*fc, Fleet street, in which parish Walton for fome time lived. Tbe cost h»s been defrayed by subscriptions among the angling fruWuifcy. The two red deer recently sent from Victoria to tbe Otago Acclima' itation Society by Mr Biackwood have been released from quwrnn- , iir-Srsad reached Dunedin on Saturday by the Flora in splendid condition. Mr Deans, the society's manager, left with the animals during I the afternoon and will liberate them at Lake j Hawea.