OUR PUBLIC SCHOOLS COLUMN.

Otago Witness, Issue 2812, 5 February 1908, Page 86

OUR PUBLIC SCHOOLS COLUMN.

FOR SENIORS AND JUNIORS. [Conducted by Macisteb, to irhona *11 ooaaaauni cat ions must be addressed.] [Maoistzs Trill be "lad to receir* Nature votes, -marked papers containing educational articles, diagrams, details of experiments, etc , of scholastic interest to teachers and pupils. Correspondents using » pea name must also «tad name and address.] CORRESPONDENCE During my absence from town my corrcsrondence has accumulated, and inquires must oxcrcise patience for a week or so, when 1 hope to deal with all letters without any delay. Through the large increase in the number of letters sent in, it will be necessary to curtail letters when long and not dealing tersely with the subject in hand. Two or three correspondents this week will notice that their contributions are considerably cut down. I wish it. to be clearly understood, however, that clearness and exactness of detail on important topics must not be sacrificed for brevity. " Crossca-ste "' is complimentary, and wants to give our editor a. large order, and to o-ive me even a larger one, when he assumes I am capable of conducting columns dealing with such a wide range of subjects as he gives. The greater portion of his programme I have excised, because both my time and my powers are limited, and the increased correspondence gives me as much work as I can undertake under present conditions. " Curator's " letter is really part of a privafc one sent hy him to "Ornithologist," who tak<is so much interest in birdlife and ojvos me help whenever I want it. "Curator" has charge of a domain in the North Island, and is one of the keenest observers of Nature in New Zealand; in consequence he has had his services recognised hy the Government. His letter will be read with interest, especially the parts dealing with gun fiends and the fantails. "L.M.8." is equally an authority, and I shall ho very glad indeed to qct a letter from him on the habits of the eel and the salmon. I am appending to his letter ■a.n extract from a weekly column in the Melbourne Argus, headed '' Nature Notes and Quer es," and conducted by Donald Macdonald. I am much obliged to Mr Hart for supnlving me w ith another snail shell, and shall be "thankful for some bleached specimens. I plead jyuiltv to not knowing German, and it is q'litc possible I changed f J.s" MS. from ''amnier" to "hammor. I'll idke the blame, at anyraie, for the lino-'.->or-itor performs wonders, and the inar\el to mo ii that he doesn't make more mistakes than he does, for writer.-, make slips as well as the operator, and with lcs-> excu-e. Only a portion of "A.B.'s" letter is ghen, and his name and addre^ ' are deleted, because the loiier in full is really a private one. A portion of the extract he <=ends I am appending. One of the «übhcachngs to the full account is " A Schoolboy's Pluck." Young Noy-cs was bent upon upholding his school. I do not think w» sufficiently recognise that boyo in our schools a r e men in the making, ar.d that schools with high traditions have an incalculable influence on ihc lives of pupils passing through them : nor do we PufSciortly recognise that we want manly men with broad sympathies and a world-wide outlook to superintend the moulding. " Jackass's Friend" may be amiwed^ "at some of the v. ild sta.!<>menis made" in these columns, but wild statements arc often made in good faith and a* the result of observation and reasoning on a wrong basis. These columns were brought into being to holp those en a wrong tack to sot on to the right ore, and to put some on the right tack who before were on no tack at all, but a.imlc«lv drifting. "Jackass's Friend " menti-irjs the cuckoo. I want definite information upon thorns biros, and so do others. Perhaps tho following, taken from Donald Ma.donald's column, will be mtoresting to many: — Cuckoo Notes. — An observer writes of cuckoos: — •'" I never knew cuckoo*, to be so plentiful as they -were this year, the fantail especially being in great abundance. Up at our hut in Olinda they wore observed one day in dozens; no rratter where one looked, five or six could be seen a-t once. During the season I found oo fewer tb*»

6ix red-browed finches' nest*, containing one young- dead cuckoo, and a clutch of neglected finches' eggs. Don't you think that the young cuckoo, being an insectcater, had been poisoned or killed by tho seeds supplied hy the finch? And can you tell nip how it is that the young 'cuckoo is always the first to hatch out in the ucst? How does the cuckoo know that the other eggs are not partly incubated? Mr Mattingly raispd the question at the 8.0.C., at our last meeting, of the immutability of the cuckoo in regard to egg-laying, and I quiie agreed with him that, in some ca*p=. the cuckoo is mutable. Mr Cole had a specimen of the nest of the yellow-faced honey-eater. with the cfrc of the pallid cuckoo in tho lower fabric, having been placed there when the foundation was first | laid. The habits of the cuckoo will puzzle us for many years to come." Two or three correspondents refer this week to the laughing jackass— the NewZealand one, of course. I must close down the correspondence on this mysterious bird, unless letters contain something much ' more definite than I have been getting. i '" E. A.'s' letter is one of those ■which show a genuine sympathy with bird-life, I and I am adding to it a similarly sympathetic one taken from one of Donald Macdonald's columns. I shall be glad of the egg and nest ; please pack in a suitable tin, if easily procurable, and send it by someone to tho Times Office. "E. A," mentions the hedge sparrow : that was the little chap that should have been introduced to the exclusion of the house sparrow. Perhaps "E. A." will watch the effect of ihe jriub upon the grass and report progress; ako, if possible, obtain it in all its stages and preserve it. I I am sorry that Mr Boberts's meteorological report has been so long delayed, . but, as I have explained, correspondence ' was held over for three weeke until my return. I should like returns from Gimmerburn. Patearoa, and Nasebv. Are they kept in the schools in these places? Las* year Westland had a rainfall of about 10ft. Contrast that with the less than 13in for tho voar at Ranfurly. The insect sent by the little folk from near Port Molyneux is a stick insect. 1 11 write more about it next week, and am j glad that they sent it and the delightful I and unconditional letter that accom- ■ panied it. , I The rest of my correspondence must stand over until next week, by which time I hope to get specimens identified. ! Hillgrove, January 11. Dear " Magister,"— lt strikes me very forcibly that your column, will become wry interesting to broadmincled people, and I feel afraid I have bsen rather awkward with mtieducing myself to you. My object in writ- : in" to you is not to force myself into your 1 column or simply wish to see my letters. ■ printed, though it pleased me to know that you thought what I wrote worthy of publication, but mainly to help -you. with the other writers, to solve their problems. I think you column should be extended in tee newspapers to pages, for your invaluable information; or if you are not an accomplice to printers of the Times and Wirneja yon ought to get a paper printed, because voS need' plenty of space for explanation. Then, correspondence is growing, and I very much enjoy reading some of the «"«« printed from contributors. If you had pages or a paper printed, you could have columns for astronomy, matriculation subjects, m«E&ematica.l. geography, physiology, biographies of celebrated men, etc. As I am a crosscmat^, and have some knowled^ of Maori names, how they are spelt, and what some of -hem mean, I must congratulate Oronvthologist for the way in which, in one of his letters, he explained the spelling and proiuinciation of Maori words. He did it remarkably wedl, and I can see he h»s some knowledge of Me lancnia^e, a.l though the Maori scrolls or scribbling are a lost art, so we haye to corfine ourselves to missionary translation, it was only recently that I discovered how the double " a- " was sounded "ah or prolonged. in the sound, and that happened when I was down south " muttonbirding. There ia a seabira the Maoris call " parera — some call it the " spoonbill," because it has a bill like a spoon, with a hook at the end. I hope to mention more about it again. Now, the Maori name for ducks is " paarera, spelt with the extra, " a " ; so I had to get *v explanation on the subject. In the formei the " a " is cut short, and in the latter tne doubled "a"- is nroEounced as ' ah. I d«?« been down two years in succession, and in the year before last I saw some saddlebaclcs— the kind of birds which the -West Coast Girl " wrote about. I was intending to write about them when I write about muttor.birdmg"; but the "West Coast Girl took the wind out of my sails. Some of them are black— about one to five or sis of the others.--and I think the black one is the male bird, though in the case of the fantail they no about equal in number. Of course, dear " Magister," I will have to retrace mv footsteps back to ore more letter on fto:;; fishing," then another on " muttono.rduig. but as there are so mary vital niixjects brought up in your column to comme-ii- upon I often feel like dropping a letter and putting my experiences in another.— l am, , g t c. Ckosscaste. 1 j DeaT Sir,— l recently went with the Mayer of Palmerston to the Tir.ica Gorge, t.ic pouice of Palmerston's water service, where l»lo i heard the bell-bird singing in the high, dense i bu=h. These two localities, together wiJi tac bu=h betueeu Pipinki and Raetihi, and the hic'li LusVclftd bank* cf the Wanganui River between Pipinki and Paranui Pa arc the only 'oc-lities known to me wnere they occur in the Xorth Is'ai cl. The Xc-ih Island rrnw is not rare in parts a' Taianaki. where Mr Percy Smith and I occa^onallv met with it. Its caicf stronghold is ia ihe " denser and bettpr--rcervcd be:t of bush skirting the base of Mcunt Egmont. ; You inquire about pige-ons. They «re abundant in the Urewera country, a3 through this great forests of the Upper Warganui, tho. forests cf the Kaagitikc'. fie ccntial forests between Gisbor'ce aid the rrcnt coast ranpe ■ of the Bay of Plenty, and the fcresfs of the East Cape. I noticed them nuirrcrcu^ in iho grand bii3li between Roiorua and Okcrcire When on Mount lloldEwo-th. the highest ; mountain of the TaTarua Range, I saw about 70 or 80 in two days They are coming to feed cii the tawa (Xesodaphne tawa) berries. They are also fa'rly numerous, in the hill or high forests in the Makuri country, between. P&hiatua and the coast. They occur occi 1 sionally in smal'er forests in many puts os the Xcrth Irland, bat aie not numerous. Thtui is quite abundant iv many tiirts. ar ' holds its own veiy we'l indeed. Almost an> - where where a little native bush is well preserved the iui is there to gladden visitorf.: The kaka is one of the first species to vanish from any district where the bush is disturbed! I sen and heard th<rn occasionally in many pait . but t! - ev are rowhere numerous except in ihc iscla-,ed coast range a'ong the Bay of Pifufy to Raukok-ore Biili >.ns no i." <^"< tl numbers in the swamps ti && litea-eii, «3unLry. Thtf occmx ia tt"

eedgy lagoons «uid creek> about the 'Wairarapa Xrake, and similar places iv many paits of the North Island. 1 never obtained any tidr'gs of the occurrence of the kotuku, or white heron, in the North Maud. Four years ago Mr Alex. Cisighead, o! Eakaia, informed me that he had seen ore near the source of the AVaitaki, iii Canterbury, but th-s is the la«t and only record I ci-i "g v; ycu. T\ herever v: travelled I observed c.osely and. inquired carefully rebpecting a:l the species of native birds from natives and Europeans alike, and made all useful and possible notes thereon. Indeed, I compiled a volume of them in the hope of putting them in paper form later on. I noticed what Buller said respecting the kaka and the'saddleback, and have many times wondered at such free use of the gun. You -would be quite astonished at the vast number of men, who should know better, who would slaughter the lrst korimoka or kotuku for gain. I have received many letters asking for specimens, but all met with a, staunch and peremptory refusal. "Without «my question, th« black and the pied fantails are distinct species. Either the pied species has increased more in numbers than the black species, or the latter has decreased during the last twenty years. I have only met with three individuals of the black fantail in the North Island. In the South Island, where the black species is vastly more numerous, I have ne>*er known them to cro^s pair. The eggs are also c'eaa-ly distinguishable in each species. — Yours faithfully. Ccratob. Dear Sir. — Having spent a considerable time on an observation station in the Butish Isles, where the habits of the eel ar.d the salmon were closely investigated for the purpose of obtaining reliab'e information, I was interested m the letter by " Donald Fraser." There is considerable difficulty attending the study of the- hab.ts of ee's. and I am afraid it will be difficult for ' D. F " to prove that elvers are not produced after the manner of other fish — i c.. by desposited ova. If desired. I will g.ve a short description of the life history of the eel. got by observations of Danish marine investigators and others — I am. etc., L. M. B. P.S. — Eels are often found with worms in the intestines end stomach, which has led many to believe that they are viviparous. Moeraki Lighthouse, January 1. Dear " Magister," — I don't know that I can add anything more of interest to my former remarks upon the krg snail (Placostylus Lcngii), nor can I Bend more than one she' 1 of this species of the natural brown coiour. I will try to obtain some bleached specimens for you and Dr. Benham. In reply to your queries, I have not seen this snail in a fossilised state, nor more than half a mile from "the sea coast. Cape Maria van Dierne" Island is the only place I have seen it alive. I saw a, few bleached shells on Fanal Island, four miles from the Moko Hinou Gr.oup. This may be called a ground snail. Either its food grows low down, or its shell is too heavy to allow it to climb- It will eat the native convolvulus. In da-nm weather it crawls from its retreat arnong^^ decaying leaves at tne base of flax bushes, but does not venture far. The shell is harder and heavier than that of other snails I am acquainted with, and another difference is the strong rim around the entrance when mature. This rim is absent in the younger ones. The body of the snail is black. It was probably not eaten by the Maoris in olden days, as it is uncommon to find it among the pipi shell heaps which tell of their many feasts on Cape M»ri«. The natural history of this remarkable snail, before it becomes quite extinct, should be given us by an expert. The shell is sent herewith. Wishing you a Happy New Year. — Yours truly, " S. Hart. Dear "Magister." — " Avo-fauna'' is correct in saying " yellow ammer." Yellow ammer is the correct name. I gave you that, but it came out yellow hammer — so I saw that you didn't understand German. About the vegetable I think, " Avi-fauna " is on a, different caterpillar, as the vegetable caterpillar does not come out of the ground. It lives and dies there. " J.", Eimu. Dear '• Jlagister."— l notice that " Maori " objects to your publi=hng Howra as the correct pronounciation of Havvera. His reasons are not very good. I stayed in Normanby for eeyeral days last January, which town is four miles from Hawera. At first, when I gave the latter its Otago jpronounciation, they diet not know what I meant, and at once I was io 7d7 d that the Maoris call it Howra. Perhaps 20 times I heard it called Howra. At first I did not know what Howra meant I heard it called. Howra in Wellington. Perhaps the editor of tlfe Hawera Star might oblige with details in this matter, or some ot the subscribers to the Witness in that district Of course, we know plenty of the Maori place Jiames are not properly pronounced as the Maoris pronounce them. I understand that Wanaka should be O Oanaka with the accent or aka, and pronounced the =ame a<< haka <dance) without the aspirate. Mpkarori should be Makaroa, which is on the authority of the aged Maoris at Eiverton. And it is understood that Omakau is a bogus Maori word. This place should be called Blacks. January 18, 1903. Dear "Magister " — I am enclosing a cutting from the Argus (Melbourne) wliich, I think, is worthy of insertion in your columns. As an " Old Boy " of the Melbourne Grammar School it affected me strongly. I appreciate ycur column very much — especially the natural history notes, and have often intended to write, but something always came in the way. When next you have correspondence on birds I hope to send you something. — Yours etc A. B. " A terrible burning fatality occurred at Healesville on Thursday morning, when Hal Noyes, aged 11 years, the only son of Mr Henry Noyes. of Noyes Brothers, electrical engineers, and Alice Currie, 24 years of age, a maid employed by Mr Noyes. were burned so severely that they succumbed to their injuries within a few hours. Between half-past 7 and- 8 o'clock on Thursday morning the maid was preparing breakiast at Mr Noyes's cottage, and the little boy was in the kitchen with her. She was using a kerosene stove, and both she anrl the lad -were standing beside it, when suddenly the stove exploded. The blazing kerosene was splashed all over them, setting their clothing on fire, and burning them badly about their faces. Their cries brought assistance, but before the flames could be extinguished they had both been badly burned about the upper part of the body and the tead. Mr Noyes =ent over to Gracedale house for assistance, oii-l thp man. _• - Qfr C 2s. Gilbert) immeckale,* v i?> Tn .Vyula^y and Miss Tracy-Ei. haru-< ' i< the cottage, where they did al' f ( ■ !d i.' aye the sufferers. It was -i~ i; cvd"-* 1 owever, that they were bejf •" i"ci c<ti <• ' cept Fv> far r.9 affording i.^™: -urn- it i- '?s concerned. Both patients «i.<-wj er.-ie- ortituoe despite the intense par 1 thit lluy -uffered. Hal Noyes, who w.« ■■. - I* . r "< - c Melbourne Grammar £ch"o' I - -->t lLpeatiug, 'Buck up, Gramm, r Srb< ~i. mv hi- courage enabled him to preserve th/ jlouou: cf tis .school to the last."

Gore, Januai;. Dear '" Magister," — Often when re_t letters in your public schools' column have been amused at some of the wild sta meiits made; at the same time there is mv useful and interesting information from yoi correspondents. I have seen it stated tha the long-tailed cuckoo does not utter it 3cr or whistle ivh.cn on the wing. This is wron. and misleading. I have been in New Zealaiu over 40 years, and, from the nature of incalling, have had many opportunities of knowing that the cuckoo, both long-tailed and short-tailed, utter their whi= f 'e-like cry while on the wing They are also night birds. Many a night in the early spring I have lam in bed and listened to their cry, first heard away in the distance on the still night air but " crradually drawing nearer till one could easily distinguish which bird it was Then, if it did not settle in the bush near at hand, which it sometimes did, the cry would become less and less easily distinguishable till it died away in the distance Both brrds, it oeemed to me, arrived here singly, but I have many a time seen both species flitting about the bush m pairs Ido not remember having seen more than two together, and tho»e two we always considered male and female but never having caught or shot either of the birds I cannot speak with authority on this point; neither can I say am thing about their e-gs or young "ones, for I have nej, er found either eggs or young birds, though I have =;>ent many long days in the bush. Aow about the laughing jackass. lam atraid ir-uch. iery much, tYiat hwK« " ltt ™ abo ° i h*m is simply nonsense. Some say there is no «uch b.rd, and name other buds which have a civ something similar, and confound one with the other I admit theie are bim<? whose cry might easaly be mistaken by an unnamed ear, but ore really acquainted with the jackass would never be so easily misled. There is a species of hawk which utteTS a cry =o much like the jackass that it is hard to distinguish between them, and I have at times been almost deceived and led to believe I had discovered jack's identity; but thews is invariably something which betrays the difference between them. The jackass is essentially a night bird; the 'hawk is only heard between sunset and dusk, and can easily be seen if one goes to the trouble 1 have known the jackasses to fly in pairs, but more often singly. One night, many years ao-o. I had to camp out in the upper reaches of the little Puerua. We scrambled up the hill into a gully where some scrub grew to get shelter and firing. Directly it became dark we were visited by a pair of these birds. They came within a few yards of the fare flying round and round at a terrific rate, and laughing their weird unearthly laugh, but do a= I would I could not get a sight of them. The ni°ht was dark, with snow, but they did not leave us in peace till long past midnight "While in Blenheim, in October, 190/. I was out Springlands way one evening, and was agreeably surprised to hear one of them wheeling and laughing overhead It reminded me of " Auld' lang syne."— Yours etc.. Jackass's Fhiekd. Owaka, DecembeT 27. Deai " Magister."— Sir,— He " Robin 1 s " note in Thursday's (19th) Times re the laughing jackass and spoonbill, I may say that the spoonbill, or mountain duck, I have known for over 40 years. They breed on -top of the Blue Mountains, and are, without exception, the swiftest flying birds I ever saw. The drake is very handsome, and the duck is lust as plain. The laughing jackass on the other hand, is an owl (very plentiful in the early days), which is now almost extinct It was to be found in caves and rocks— notably about the Horse Range (near Oamani). I may now say that "Robin" is much mistaken when he confounds the spoonbill with the laughing jackass.-I am, etc., South Taieri, December 2S. _ Dear " Magister,"— The poor htle wren s, ne=t came to grief. When I went to have a Tock at it I foW a little dead bird and an e S o The eeg was stuck on to some featheis, and both it and the bud were sticking in the bush below the nest, while the nest uself wa, quite empty The old birds jere nowhere to be seen, so I brought away the ne.t and ecr<7 with a \iew to forwardirg it to you v you would care to have it The egg seems fairly laree for the size of the bird. I haie not seen any of the birds lately. but sometimes hear them " So far as I know none of those I have seen had any brown about them ihey are more easily =e=n m the winter, when tns tiee? are bare. I would like very much if I ccu'd send you a specimen, but I am afraid it i= quite out of the question in the meantime I could not fir kof killing one and I do not see how else I could get one, unless I should happen to find a dead one JNext time I see one I'd try to get a goci look a. it and send you a proper description, if 1 can. If jou wou'd like the ne=t and egg, would you pease tell rre how to packet' _ From the descript.on. the birds " \\ aitoru suoke of a week or two ago are very probably hedge spauows The hedge spariow has b°eu fairy common here for years now li is' a nice little bird of a daiki=h brown colour, is fairly tame, end frequents the garden a bu. The nest is after the shape of a linnet's, and the eggs are of a pretty blue colour. They occasionally get poisoned and trapped a.ong with the common sparrow, but as » rule they do not seem to meddle with grain. Tne common sparrow is very mischievous here at times, but it must do a lot of good, too. I used to watch a sparow that had its dm. m our shed, and when it came to feed its young ones its beak was generally full of inserts, with their wings and legs sticking out. Will you and Dr. Benham please accept, my thanks for your assistance in connection with the grubs and moths I have come to the conclusion that the Government biologist merely mistook the variety of liorma, and that the iirub is the larvae of " Ponna cervmata." lam afraid the grub will be very p'entiful and very destructive to the grass in two or three months' time. Dr Benham's remarks about the spines were rather interesting, their use had not occurred to me before. The chrysalids must surely come up the holes they made when they were grubs, though, or perhaps they go to a fairly soft place before they change. As for the eggs I sent, they were more for a curiosity than anything else. I often find half-dead moths lyiftg in the candlesticks, on the floors, and any- : where, and if they are grey ones they eenerally have a heap of eggs bsside them. I incline to think the yellow ones are the males. I shut one tip and it did not lay a sinsle egg. — I am, etc , E. A. Ranfur'y, January 2. Dear " Mas;i=ter." — The uidermertioned are the rn-eteorolo»ical records for December. I notice that I have ratter misled you m my las-t letter re record ng slrtions. What I wanted to say was that if records were taken at Gmrmerbiirn or Patearoa they would be much les? than he'-e and Naseby more. Some of your readers might wonder who take recoids at the a'^cve places, sq I thought it best to make an enrUnation — I am, etc., A W. ROBERTS. Maximum temperature in screen, 88deg on the 29th. Minimum temperature ia screen, 37deg on the ! [ Sxd and -SUu -

Minimum terrestrial radiat-on, 33deg on the 26th and 27th. erage maximum for ail days in screen, • i Ibdeg. oiage minimum for a 1 days in screen, 'S9odeg. cage minimum terrestrial radiation, i <-.70deg. j ar.fall, 2 76in on eight days. ' lmium fall, ,BS.n on .he lth. 1 all for the year, 12.74 in om 98 days . .-•it of recording s;atlon. 1400 ft.