A. NATURALIST'S CALENDAR.

Otago Witness, Issue 2578, 12 August 1903, Page 14

A. NATURALIST'S CALENDAR.

Br Gm M. Thomson". F.L.S.

AUGUST.

August-, like February in the Northern Hemisphere, is usually a bleak cold month, with broken weather ; but the days are lengthening, the buds are swelling on the trees, the crocuses make the gardens q\iite gay in sunshiny hours, and in all bright weather there is a feeling of spring in the air. The birds are already preparing for the nesting season, and the wanderer in quiet paths coming suddenly on busy blackbirds or thrushes, sees many a fight between rival males. It is wonderful with what absolute abandon a couple of blackbirds will fight ; they attack each other with such fierceness and savagery, — with beak and wings and spurs, — that they can almost be caught by the hand, so engrossed are they in the scrimmage. I have come upon them while so engaged and marvelled to observe the state of exhaustion which ensues after such a fight, when they sit almost on their tails, facing one another with their golden beaks wide open as if gasping for breath, until the more vigorous suddenly renews the attack. Male thrushes also engage in prolonged fights, but for a regular haminer-and-tongs, rough-and-tumble struggle, nothing can excel the blackbirds. It beats cock-fighting. After the battle the successful warrior forthwith pairs with the hen of his choice, and his beaten rival looks elsewhere for a mate. The song is suspended until this union is consummated. But out in the open, even early in August,

The skylark sings High in the blue wixh eager, outstretched wings, Till the strong passion of his joy be told.

The native birds which have come in near the haunts of msn during the earlier months of winter now mostly seek the denser bush in which to build their nests, only a very few being found within the limits of the Town Belt. One of these, one of the prettiest little birds in New Zealand, is ths grey warbler, which usually begins building this month. A pair used to build in a Deutzia bush just a few feet from my study window, and for three years they nested in the same spot. The jiest, which is a well-built, cosy little structure, lined with moss or feathers, hangs on a branch cr in the fork of a bush, and has the entrance slightly domed over. Within this flaskshaped structure are laid about four delicate little eggs, which are nearly white in colour, but always more or less spotted or marked with pink or reddish specks. The birds must rear two or three broods of young each season, for it is nearly always in the nests of this songster that the cuckoos — both the long-tailed and the sinning species — lay their eggs, and this takes place usually in December or January. The pied fantails also begin building this month, but I have not known of them nesting about ths Belt for gome years, though they probably do so in the thicker portions furthest away from roads and houses. A score of years ago fhey used to nest close to the High School Rectory, and whenever the windows of the dining hall were open they came into the room, and not only cleared off the small flies from the window-panes, but used to search the woodwork of the lefty roof for spiders. The nest is a beautifully built cup-shaped edifice, and the eggs, in number, size, and colouring, resemble those of the grey warbler.

The grey lark or pipit, a very common ground-bird in the open country, regularly begins nesting during this month. Like all birds of its kind, it makes a shallow ne&t of grass, usually at the foot of a tussock, and lays three or four greyish eggs, winch aye generally more or less streaked with darker markings. Occasionally the miro-miro or yellowbreasted tit makes its nest in August, but usually it waits till the spring is more advanced. The late Mr T. H. Potts, who was a mo>t observant naturalist, recorded this species as nesting in all sorts of queer localities, not only among the blanches leaves of various kinds of trees and shrubs, but in hollows of decayed trees, on the face of a high cliff by the sea, in crevices of rocks, under the arch of a bridge on a public road, in porches, sheds, and outliouses. And in such localities as those last named, rags, bits of paper and worsted were worked into the nest. I know of no native hud which has shown f-o much confidence :n: n human beings as this peiky little, biight-eved tit. When so many of tbe mdigenoiis birds have retired permanently to districts remote from all settlement, it is pleasant to feel that .«ome have remained, and that, in spite of their fearlessness, they have managed to survive near towns and beside the habitations of men. It would be well if the -ising generation of boys could be instructed ->d prevailed upon to leave them unmolested.

In the month, of August many plants commence to flower, but live majority of those which are borne by trees or *>"iibs are eithei pelf-feitilised or are depei. H on the wind, as insects are still comparatively rare. The inogfc familial* examples of wind-fertilised plants are to be found among the introduced catkin-bearing treeswillows, poplars, aiders, hazel, and many others. It is noticeable in them that the catkins are borne on the branches before the leaves appear, so that they hang open and loose to the action of the wind.

Perhaps the best examples >f windfertilised plants in the native flora are

furnished by the genus Coprosma, som© * species of which come into flower this' month. How am I to describe the coprosmas, so that those unacquainted with them may recognise them? Well, they are very common plants in the Town Belt, particularly in the more open parts, and they are known to most people in one or other of their species. The larger-leaved kinds have shining leaves and longish-orange-coloured drupes (or berries, as they are popularly called)* The smaller-leaved kinds have usuailly a scrubby land of appearance, with branches coming off at very wide angles, widely" separated pairs of small leaves, while the fruit is generally small, round, and bright red in colour.One species with a very decided odour (appropriately called Coprosma foetidksima) is popularly known as stinkwood. Another, with narrow, small, elongated leaves ana bright yellow wood, is the inika-mi£& ; while still another, common on dry banks, has striped blue and whitish fruit.

All these plants have certain charac-' teristic features. The flowers are dioecious — that is, one plant bears staminate ror male flowers only, tne ■ other "pistillate or femaile. These -flowers -ate very- small, greenish-grey in colour, so that they are very difficult to see, and they are- absolutely destitute of nectar. The staminats flowers are produced in immense numbers; they have each four anthers hanging out of the tiny corolla cups on long, slender filaments, so that they are easily shaken, by the slightest .breath of wind, .and "when, . so disturbed a cloud of extremely fine, dry, and dusty pollen is shaken out of them. The pistillate -flowers are usually fewer in number and are produced closer to the 'branches. The most' curious feature about them is the relatively large size of their stigmas, which are from eight to twelve times as long as the corollas. They therefore expose a large surface to the air, so as to catch any pollen grains which may be floating about. Many persons seem to think that coprosmas and similar plants which have inconspicuous flowers never blossom at all. This is not only want of observation, but something worse, which, shall not be specified here ; but it surprises me how commonly such an absurd idea is held.

Another plant which flowers thus early in the season is the large-leaved dark green panax, sometimes called the New Zealand gum-tree. The dull green flowers are produced in large compound umbels, and this makes them somewhat conspicuous. They are dioecious, but are certainly not fertilised by the wind, for they only produce a small quantity of pollen, which is not dry and dusty, and the stigmas are rather emalL They are fragrant, and' produce a considerable quantity of nectar. Later in the season those' flowers which are then opea are visited, by eev-erai species- of insects, especially by a large, brown, hairy fly-; bufc at this .early season the only visitor I have noticed is the bell-bird-. The flat structure of the flower does not* seem, adapted to fertilisation by these birds, bufc they no doubt manage to lick up the nectar from the flat discs of the blossoms by their brush-like tongues, for they are often to be seen among the foliage. N A few other early flowers are to be found this month, such as the larger-flowered, iuauuka, the bush lawyer (Rubus australis), and some others which I can only specify by their technical names ; but most- of them bloom more "freely next mont:. I will conclude this notice by reference to a very curious fungus which I have only found in August, and which occurs about Dunedin, but whether indigenous or introduced I cannot say. From its very , peculiar shape it has received the name of j Jew's ear (Hirneola aimcula-Judje). It is of gelatinous consistence, and is folded in a curious way. In a new country like this, one of the missing features of interest in plants and many other things is tliab they have no history. But in Europe hirneola had formerly quite a reputation for the cure of sore throats, and it was also used to apply eye-water to weak or inflamed eyes and lotions to wounds, from -its faculty of absorbing and holding water like a sponge. In the great International Exhibition held in London Y in 1862 a- ' quantity of it appeared as 'a medicine exhibit from one of the French colonies — I forget which. The last time I saw ib growing was two or three j-ears ago, when ■ the ground in front of the porch of ths Girls^ High .School in Dowling street was covered with it.

The ventilation of some* of tho rconia in the- Tjmaru Main School has been pomplainod of for many years. A few days ago it was discovered by a committee cf the 'Education Board that only one room, in tho school had any other than dummy ventilators. There were openings in the ceilings, filled with perforated zinc, and these merely open into the general spaco under tho roof, only one room having a. ventilating cowl in the rcof.