IN TOUCH WITH NATURE.

Otago Witness, Issue 2985, 31 May 1911, Page 89

IN TOUCH WITH NATURE.

NOTES ON NATURAL HIS NEW ZEALAND.

(By James Deummond, F.L.S., F.Z.S.) During January and February kingfishers were very numerous in the Huatoki Valley, part of which extends through the centre of the town of New Plymouth. A quarter of a mile from the mouth of the Huatoki, the Pukekura Stream, which runs through the lakes in Pukekura Park, flows into it. In February Mr W T . W. Smith, saw these beautiful birds daily about the lower lake in the park in considerable numbers, busily engaged catching and subsisting on the very minute eels whjch had ascended the Huatoki and Pukekura streams from the sea into the lake. Owing to the dry weather during the summer months the streams were low, and that would greatly favour theee interesting young fish in their ascent" of the Pukekura, which is more difficult to negotiate than the Huatoki. There is a 10ft high waterfall to be scaled before reaching the lake, but that would offer little obstruction to the young eels. In regard to the kingfishers' food, Mr Smith writes:—"'A local angler informed me a few days ago that when he was fishing at the mouth of the Waiwakaiho River in February last he picked up a dead kingfisher with a mouse fast in its throat. The bird had tried to swallow the mouse whole, but the body stuck in its throat and choked it. Both the bird and the mouse were quite fresh when picked up." "The tui's note re-echoes through the park daily now," Mr Smith wrote on April 15. " Owing to the dry summer these birds were all away at the native bush, but, since the autumnal rains commenced, some have returned to gladden visitors to the park with their mimicry and their rich notes."

Mr A. P. Sharkey, of Ross, in dealing ■with Dr Fulton's criticisms of his statements in regard to the habits of cuckoos, says that they are based on hie own observations and experiences, and are quite correct. Mr Sharkey states that he has certainly found young cuckoo chicks lying dead under tuis' nests. He has not seen a cuckoo sitting on a tui's nest; In all instances the- cuckoo was standing on the nest or fluttering off it, chased by tuis. Some years ago, in the fernsido Bush, Wairarapa, he found a young longtailed cuckoo in a thrush's hard-shell nest. There were four young thrushes in the nest, all larger than the stranger, which could only be distinguished from its fellow-occupants by the shape of its head and bill, as its tail had not grown. He has seen long-tailed cuckoos sucking tui's eggs, and they have almost dropped the shell on his head: As to the statement that tuis cannot catch a cuckoo, he says that when tuis are angry there are, probably, no faster birds in the world. This is evident to anyone who watches them catching bees and flies for their young, or when they are at play, or dart at a rival. One day in the " sixties," in company with Warden Price, his son Matthew, Mr Ralfe, a school master, and Mr P. Adameon, Mr Sharkey saw a longtailed cuckoo fly out of a kowhai tree, pursued by two tuis. They overhauled it in 50 yards and struck it. The three birds came tumbling to earth together. Just before reaching it the tuis flew away, and the cuckoo was picked up in a dying condition, with its skull pecked in.

Dr Fulton writes about the size and appetite of the cuckoo, and says that a, quarter of the food brought by its foster parent will not suffice for a big youngs cuckoo. Mr Sharkey adds :—" In this statement he laughably gives himself away. Has he ever seen a young longtailed cuckoo ? If he has not, let him go into the Wellington or Christchurch Museum. There he will find that the body of a long-tailed cuckoo is not as large as a tui or saddle-back, or English thrush, and that the shining cuckoo is no larger than a bell-bird or robin. He must be thinking of the English cuckoo, which is as large as our native pigeon, if not larger. When I was a boy I robbed hundreds of nests of native birds, and in not one instance did I find eggs covered up in a nsst and a fresh layer laid upon them, although this is done frequently by English birds. At present, it is as hard to find the nest of either a tui or a bellbird as to find a needle in a haystack. I never stated that native birds threw the cuckoo egg out of the nest. I stated that the tui kills the long-taikd cuckoo chick as soon as it appears. I actually saw the tragedy. No naturalist can come near a bird-loving, nest-robbing boy for discovering all the secrets of bird life."

In those days, in the Ross district, Mr Sha-rkey says, tuis were much more plentiful than they are now. When the kowhal was in bloom it was not unusual to see 60 or 70 in one tree. Bell-birds were almost as plentiful, and the sound of their revelry was deafening. Long-tailed cuckoos, also, were more plentiful then. There were dozens for every one seen now. Last year he heard only one of those birds, this year none. As to the shining cuckoo, he has heard only one since November, and that one was being chased from stump to stump by sparrows. In concluding his letter he adds: —"My sister informs me that she has a bird that throws strangers off the nest. It is a black Spanish hen. Four hens' eggs and four ducks' eggs were placed under it. When the chicks came they were mothered, but when the ducklings broke out of the shell the hen pecked their skulls in and threw them out of the nest. Dr Fulton should note this, as perhaps it is another unreliable observer.' -'

The Maoris have many lines imitating the songs of native birds and placing them to words, or rathecr the sounds of the human voice. These interpretations seldom have any sense, although here and there

w\-"'' are ■'.?-'luoed, f : -b .':« " Welcome, welcome!" Whan recited by Maoris, however, they «.rc very melodious and pkasa to the eat. Mrs H. W. Bishop of GhriVuchurch. has supplied the following song of the- tui : Moimoia mai to manuhiri Nohoa to manuhiri No tutu no wcwahi No Manukairoriro Moimoi, haere mai. And Mr Andrew Wilson, district surveyor at Opotiki, has supplied the following song of the bell-bird, which was recited to him by Mr J. B. Gordon, of Waiotaki, who obtained it from the Rev. Mr Maunsell many years ago : Pipi te ru, pipi to whate, what© to ti puku, Haero te piki n-ga po, koko nga po. Haere mai ti nakcp, haere mai to kokero. Ho-au-koatu, ngapipi ! Tapipi! Keo-keo, kikokawhare ! When the lines aire properly recited, Mr Wilson says, a splendid effect is obtained, especially from the last two lines.