IN TOUCH WITH NATURE

Otago Witness, Issue 2840, 19 August 1908, Page 13

IN TOUCH WITH NATURE

NEW ZEALAND'S GULLS.

By James Drtjmmond, F.L.S., F.Z.S.)

Although the members of the Laridae family, which includes the gulls, are seen on New Zealand coasts more frequently than any other sea birds, very little information has been placed on record in regard to their habits. Extensive knowledge of these birds is possessed by many people, but few of them have passed on their information to the public. In these circumstances high value will be ! placed upon a graphic and interesting I note sent to me a few weeks ago by Mr S. Percy Smith, author of " Hawaiki, the Whence of the Maori." He was for some years Surveyor-general •of New Zealand, and his work took him to many unfrequented spots in the North I Island, where he saw the native birds in I their natural haunts, before they had I learnt that civilisation is an evil thing | I for them. Mr Smith has directed most loi his leisure studies towards Maori j legends and ancient customs. As the author of " Hawaiki " and the founder of the Polynesian Society, he has done great service to ethnology. Hp has made 1 i observations in other directions also, and ! his note on a nesting-place of gulls is an interesting contribution to the Dominion's . ornithological literature. ■ Forty-nine years ago he was engaged on a survey of the south head of the Kaipara Harbour, in the Auckland province. It is an extensive area of bare i white sandhills. In places there were ! tufts of the pingao grass, whose tough, ! leathery leaves -.vere formerly used by the ■ Maoris for making girdles, and are still j used for the manufacture of kits. There is a deep inlet, a sandy bay, on the south head. It is almost dry at low tide, and is a favourite place for catching flat fish. Near its eastern shore there is a range of hills, and seaward of the range the j whole coast, for a length of over 30 mfles, j and a breadth of from two to three miles, jis rolling dunes of pure white sand. These dunes fall to the ocean in gentle slopes. The beach between the highwater and low-water marks, which is called Eangatira, is level and hard. It makes an excellent road for driving ois riding, but the journey over it is an'j exceptionally dreary one. j

Mr Smith, with four Maoris, started out from the inlet at dawn, and soon reached the north-western point of the south head, where i^he sand dunes flatten out into level spaces, open to every wind that blows, with the mighty rollers of the Tasman Sea breaking in "long lines of white surf with a noise that was almost deafening. When the party reached that sandy point Mr Smith was astonished to see a vast cloud of seagulls rise into the air. Their numbers were so great that he felt that all the gulls of the country had gathered at the spot for a special purpose. The object of the gathering was soon made clear, When one of the level spaces was crossed, it was found that the ground was strewn with so many eggs that it was difficult to walk without treading on them. Between two and three acres were covered with them. They must have numbered many hundreds of thousands. They were of different sizes. The range was from the size of a hen's egg to that of a pigeon's egg. Many were beautifully spotted with dark purple. As the members of the party crossed the remarkable nestingplace the gulls hovered in the air close over their heads, m such large numbers that the place was darkened, the light was as dim as in the great forests. The birds' screams and the rustling of their wings was almost deafening.

The birds had n)ade no pretence at making nests. The eggs had been laid in the open on the warm sands. The Maoris filled the " billies " with eggs, and carried the plunder to the night's camping-place, 11 miles to the south. The distance was traversed with theodolite and chain between daylight and dark. In the evening the eggs were cooked, and a great feast was held. Mr Smith tried some of the eggs himself. He says that they were not unpalatable, but he explains that a surveyor's appetite is not a fastidious one. In those days, in that part of New Zealand, a surveyor's ordinary diet was potatoes, pipis, and fish. During Mr Smith's visit there were only four white men in the whole of the Kaipara district, and the nearest store was 60 miles away. The population of the district is now about 25.000-

In the genus Larus, there are only three New Zealand species. In other words, all the hosts of seagulls seen most frequently on these coasts and in the harbours and fields represent only three distinct birds. The genus has a very peculiar distribution. It is found in nearly every country of the world except the Malay Archipelago, New Guinea, and all of Polynesia. The common New Zealand gull, popularly called the blackbacked gull — the Larus dominicanus of scientists and the Maori's karoro. — is found in South Africa, South America, and Kerguelen Land, in the Antarctic Circle, and it is related to another member of the genus, which belongs to the Northern Hemisphere, but wanders south as far as Florida. It is a large bird, rather graceful when on the wing, but it is clamorous, quarrelsome, and gluttonous. It has an extraordinary digestion. . The red-billed or mackerel gull — Larus scopulinus, the Maori's Tarapunga — is a smaller and prettier bird. Its plumage is white, with pearly grey back and wings and red bill and feet. Red-billed gulls are frequently seen on a fine day on the sea-shore, standing in the shallow rippling waves as they advance "oon the sand. The birds nearly always face the wind. As many as 50 or 60 sometimes gather together in the company of a few terns. After standing for some time they all rise gQft or 30ft in the air, flutter about for a few' minutes, and then gracefully settle dowfl again.

The red-billed gull has earned a quaint reputation for itself on account of its systematic plunder of the oyster-catcher. The latter is an expert in catching crabs and other crustaceans. The red-billed gull cultivates its society, ajid impudently robs it of its little luxuries. The third New Zealand species, the black-billed gull, Larus bulleri, is about the same size as the red-billed species, but it seems to prefer lakes and rivers more than the sea-coast, and its habits are not well known.