IN TOUCH WITH NATURE

Otago Witness, Issue 2861, 13 January 1909, Page 81

IN TOUCH WITH NAT URE

I BIKDS IX IHE CITIES. ; (By James Drt-mato-xd, F.L.S., F.Z.S.) Although the native biids ot XeA> >-ea- , land have an nittinctive dread of civjhea- ' tion, and shun places -rthero two or thite iiaman bemgi <ue gathcicd togelhtr, it is T;ot impcesible lor dwelleis in town.- and 1 cities to make the b:rd-^' acquaintance and 10 become faimiiar vith their hab.ts. In i thronged streets, where the din of the strenuous Lie rescundt. all day loiip:, a a- tive bird is as rare „c an Antarctic it.a . • There are few suburban garuen.-. however, to which some native b.ids do not make occasional visits. The white-eye and tl'e grey waibler aro the most frequent visi--1 tors. Tha former may be seen in trees ar.ci) Ghrubs in the suburbs at almost any ' time of the day. The latter geii up with > the laik, and for several hour^ in the trii'ly morning sends icrtli his loud, piain--1 tive. and me!cciioa>> whistle of seveia' dis- ' linct notes. iStveral shytu' syecies may ; still be eeen nt-ar mrst New Zealind cities at the expense of only a little exertion. Even in and neai Wellington, which is believed to be the least sentimentpl and mort hustling city in Xew Zealand, native b rdh are not compete -iti^ngers. Rcei-c"c-nt.= of that busy centre have many op}>ertunities for jnaking a close acquaintanceship with Nature if they wish to do I so. Mr A. M. Jones, of Boston teirace, for instance, states that in former a ears the tui always visited Wellington in the spring, when the gum-tree is in fioAvei. Although he has not seen a tin this spring, he recorded one in a garden in Wilhs street about four jeirs aj,o. and he has seen this bird) on gum-trees near Kobson .'.treat. In the bush near the city he has seen it in fairly largo numbers. The lively little buah wren and the green rifleman, which is anothei wren, and is the tiniest member of tho native a-vifauna, are not uncommon neir Wellington. He has I seen the grey warbler at his door. The North Island tom-tit, " whose jet-black bib," he says, " reaches well down its breast, giving it the appearance of having a very large head," is frequently seen on fences and traes near the outskirts of the bush and scrub. On last Labour Day, October 14, he heard the pipi-wharaurca, the shining cuckco, piping ihs pleasant notes on the Wainui-o-mata Hill, not very fat- from the capital. He repoits that 'the bush at Day's Bay, in Wellington Harbour, Is the abode of several native pigeons, which feed -on the berries of the nikan, miro, and other trees that grow there. He believes that a few years ago he saw the bushloving robin near the city. He was on his vsay to Mount Matthews at the time, and^ met the bird at the foot of Mount M'Kcrrow, which he passed. He generally sees the whitehead, the Maori's popokotea. when he visits the bu^h behind Day's Bay. He eav> this bird at Wainui-o-nrpta on L^bum Day. when he heoid the shining cuckoo, andi states that it is htill plentiful near Wellington. "I will long lemember the joyous twitter a large flock of them made at daybreak one m.orning in a gully on Mount Al'Kerrow," he says, " where Mr B. Keva and I had camped the previous night ; they are very interesting, and are not at all shy."_ "Fantsils frequent some places in the Botanical Gardons ; and in Wellington, in the summer, Mr Jones states that lie ha? often seen the b'g bush cicada, which settlers call the locust. In January of lasl year, while he was exploring the wild country between Kaitoke and Otaki, he and two friends who were with him saw a pair of blue ducks, the whio. "We were travelling up the Hutt Gorge, before ascending the Tararua Ranges and Mount Hector. We disturbed the pair far up the bush-clad gorge, where rapid > and deep pools alternate. They wore alarmed, but did not fly away. Tlifiv took refuge in the &wift '.stream, which Cfiried them quickly pa&t v*-, uttering their whistling note as they went. They evade the rock.- and swirling feddies with wontJ«rft'l case. If it were not for the huire and trout, many of which we ■-aw, the=p ducks could live and mult'plv there 111 alnvoit perfect security, as the korge. in it.s upper parts, is pr •< 1 ically impassable to men. On account < I the extreme dry ness of last summer vo were able to go right through, but even then, with tHe water very low. we had much dii?culty in passing tome place.-, an/1 were continually wading. On that trip I saw the long-tailed cuckoo and some bell-birds. *X" latter being high up on the ranges, where the mountain flax was in flower. I did not hear kiwis on that occasion, although we camped juet on the bush-line at an fltitude of about 4Gooft. in places widely distant from each other. The "onniiy on the mainland oppos-ite Kapiti I^l end ih intv.icstinf.'. Last Ka-t<»r I went _* "=- i *" 1 1 a party to Wair.ui. a peak nearly cCOjft l.iijh, overlocking Kapiti. <;nd there '■• " s'w both b^ll-biids and whit<he.t(ls In rr^ent ti'ne= J ] avc seen the be'l-bir.l 'n th" langpt, iv.-ar W^kanae." Jones al>o <2j-i il^^ a m=!l lie made io Te Being? , jienr W; ir.ja. in the H->wkf's B'v Province, at tho tim.^ la^t ye Q .r. He there saw several p.st'vo bird=. Ainongft otLcis there v. fs a capti\e tui. It was k-.ut by Mao. is, v, ho had taught 't in utter ihe yentenc-" " Kei te pewhra lc^?" It is '•lie Maori for "How pre v".?" V» T hen he pnrA* to t'w» 1-i'fl it reoct < 7 j i.''."---v. ords to him sc-vei.il times, ;n.d u-tally c^ni^lud^cl hy puffing out its featlier^ and giving a eort of cough. It excited his sympathy. " How I pitied it, living in a small, dark, unclean cage liung up in a cherry tree in full bloom, with kowhai flowers all about, and it unable to obtain a &ip of nectar. Its captors fed it on pumpkin, whioh was <!irty. I gathered honeyed flowers for it, and ac I put them in the cage the bird darted at uiy hand and) linked my fingers ea.g«rly trith a.

r rapid thrnsti;is mrtiov. of its b;\;^:r." 'cr.gue." 1 At the €n J. of i-is lettsr llr /er.c§ strikes a not-; ->v rch v % :. i\v_ -«}-mj.-£theti- , fiLy m the henri.- ci :u iij. j,^o pie vno are known ihe cncli?-ii.::s? ]>>easure& o. ;j._- >".?«* Zcai.tiid fcis-lc-.. but itlio arc? ;,rtventea by c.rs.urr.».tan^Cc; irom iene%\in^ [ the acquaintanceship. '" Reie in a city." he sa»», "I find it huiQ to sit and write ab^ut cur Lirtla. as it take* me back to my boyhood, when bush ,\nd hhd.-, in the ' place -sv!-«re I lived were plentirul, and ' birds and bush were life to me. Now that they are lare, to see t!.e tui swing baner.th the kowhai tic.were, to hear the I jubilation of a hundred tu!s in the knhi- ' kntea tops, to hear ths ring with the bell-bird's notes, or at daybreftk, in some quiet glade, to have the jobin near, ' nn-1 to lieai him clspr his throat of soulful not-es. ar<:- only memoi-ies. Still, I tramp the vood> at times, and here an-d there, although the r numbers are 6adl,y reduced, I n.cet old friends and listen to their vo:c°? ag^in."