IN TOUCH WITH NATURE

Otago Witness, Issue 2849, 21 October 1908, Page 15

IN TOUCH WITH NATURE

j m — &N AUSTRALIAN IN NEW. ZEALAND. r A LITTLE STRANGER IN THE GARDEN. (By James Drttmmokd, E.L.S., F.Z.S.) In nearly all parts of New Zealand-^- j in gardens .in.- the cities, hedgerows in. j the country, plantations on the plains, j and " scrub " and forests on the moun- • tains — there may be seen a tiny bird J with, a sweet note, a liyely manner, a ; bright olive head and tail, a dark grey back, a yellow throat, a white abdomen, light chestnut flanks, and a conspicuous. giTdle of white feathers round its eyes, I which makes it look as if it were a pair of spectacles. It is the brightest orna- j -ment of a suburban garden, the cheenesi J inhabitant of the forest, and one of the most attractive little birds, in the ranks , of New Zealand's avifauna ; and its*; •presence in this country represents one of J the most romantic stories of bird life, j Fifty-three years ago it was unknown : in i New Zealand by either ' Europeans or , Maoris. One morning, about 1856, the' lighthouse-keeper on Dog Island, in ' Foveaux Strait, found in, the gallery of the_ tower scores of "little birds, lying dead. 1 They had come in the night or early, in the morning, before the lights were extinguished, and had dashed themselves to death against the panes. Flocks had left the shores of Tasmania or Australia, and had crossed a thousand miles, of ocean- before coming into sight of New Zealand. Ever since that time this Australian bird has been taken into the • list of native birds of New Zealand. It passes northward from Southland to Otago, Canterbury, and Nelson, spreading out over the districts and making itself quite at home in the new land. Although it had crossed the great width . of the Tasman Sea. it hesitated before erasing 20 or 30 miles of water in Cook Strait. Ifc passed' over in small num- ' bers, then retired to the south again, and , finally advanced in prodigious force. Ifc . was recorded simultaneously by a Maori , mailman at Waikanae and by a naturalist in Wellington city, and it flocked through province to Wanganui, Taranaki, Hawke's Bay. Poverty Bay, and . Auckland. It makes' friends with, both the members of the old aristocratic avifauna and the English interlopers. It 1 has gone out to the remotest outskirts of , the- Dominion, in the Chatham, Auckland, Snares, and Campbell Islands, and- ifc is I no*y far more plentiful than any other native species. \ J , - ' It has a long list of popular , names. Any oue of them can be used. It is * the wlri.te-'eye, the silver-eye, the ring- ;' eye, the wax-eye, the blight-bird or the winter migrant; The Maoris call it tau-hou, stranger, and scientists know it- as Zbsterops. (girdle.-eye) caßruleseens. The genus ranges over a large part of ths world," commencing in Africa, south of the Sahara, and extending to Madagascar, the Indian Peninsula, uaid Ceylon, 'Hhe Burmese countries, the whole of China, Japan, Formosa, the Maiay Peninsula, the Indo-Malayan Islands, New Guinea, Australia, the islands of the Pacific Ocean and this Dominion. There are no fewer than 85 species in the genus, a.nd one of these is the species which settled in New Zealand. Here it is associated with the tui, the bell-bird and the stich-bird as a member of the honey-eating meliphugida±. When the colonists came to an end of their controversy as to whether the white-eye was an indigenous bird or a viator, they decided that it should be given a hearty welcome, partly because it did ;not shun civilisation, like the old New Zealand b"ird», and partly^ because its presence gaye an additional charm to sylvan- scenes and. wild animal life. Before many years had passed, they began io regard it as a nuisance. It invaded the orchard, and took a larger share of the plums, cherries, and apples than such a email bbd might be fairly considered : entitled to, and its romantic arrival was , looked upon, as a visitation rather than. v hleubing. It was not long, however, before the people changed their mind again. The white-eye attacked the ; American blight on apple trees, and it has carried on this excellent work so industriously that it hns compltely cleared many orchards of the post, and has done important eervice to the couritiy. It is ' as a mark of lecognition of its work in this direction that it has " blightbird " as one of its titles. At one time public feeling wai> so strong against . -it that a cru«ide was organised for its ' destruction. Those wha?e hearts had , been touched by its pretty manners, how- ! ever, ' interceded for it, and, better counsels prevailing, it was permitted to live in the land unmolested. Ifc is not amongst the birds that receive i the law's protection, but as it is not rare, and as it has a quiet and inconspicuous plumage, it does not receive the ' harmful attention of collectors, It found j its greatest enemy in New Zealand in the ILooris, who preserved large numbers in fat every year as a suitable supply of winter food. It is so small that the j Maoris did not give it any further preparation than plucking the feathers, head, bones and all being eaten,* This slight j adverse li«s had no effect upon its increase. It is now firmly established us a New Zealand bird that ii> both ornamental and useful, and most people gladly give it the fruit it takes in return for its pleasant company and for the quantities of Wight it destroys. If a vote was taken in the Dominion whether it should be banished or not, there would be an almost unanimous vote in favour of its retention.

—It takes two to make a quarrel ; but . ** also takes two to 'ki^e and be friends."- I