FIELD CLUB RAMBLES.

Otago Witness, Issue 3261, 13 September 1916, Page 53

FIELD CLUB RAMBLES.

By G. M. Thomson, F.L.S.

The most vivacious, and perhaps the favourite, little bird in New Zealand is the fantailed flycatcher. There are two very distinct forms; but whether they are distinct species or two forms of the same species I do not know. The pied is the commoner of the two; but it is very often the case that, in a pair which are evidently breeding together, one will be pied and the other black. The latter is perhaps the prettier of the two; it is such a smart little creature, with its black-brown coat and its brilliant eyes, which glisten like black diamonds. But it is not their liveliness of movement and grace of form that make them such universal favourites: it is their confidence and response to any call like their own little piping cheep that make us love them so. Once they have found their way into a house they seem to know they are welcome, and look in to see if the windows or doors are open, so that they can come in and have a search for flies and spiders. They are among the few native species which have increased rather than become rarer since the advent of white people to this country. They are probably the commonest native bird in the Duneclin Town Belt, a locality which suits their habits very well. This is the month of the year in which they begin to build, though the first brood seldom comes out before October. The fantail's nest is a beautifully compact and symmetrical structure, usually built round a branch in a fork of a tree, so that it cannot be removed without cutting away its supports at the same time. A friend of mine in the Old Country who was a bit of a naturalist had a collection of birds' nests and eggs. Any boy can keep a collection of birds' eggs, for they do not take up much room beyond a few boxes and tins with cotton-wool for packing. But my friend's collection was a most formidable one as far as bulk was concerned, for the smallest nests occupied a few cubic inches of space, while many of them occupied several cubic feet. Fortunately he had the means to devote cupboard space for his collection. Now a flycatcher's nest is not a large structure by itself, but when its supporting branches are cut away with it, then it makes a bulky object. The fantail's nest is usually cup-shaped ; the base is made of moss, skeleton leaves, decayed wood, and similar material, while the upper part consists of interwoven stoma of mosses, fibrous grasses, hair, downy material from plants, such as clematis fruits, and nearly always some spider web. In this are laid four eggs, about o.7in long by £in in diameter, which ate white in cokmi, with numerous pur-

plish-bi-own freckles, which ai;e denser and tend to form an obscure zone towards the larger end. The fantails usually bring out a second brood about January. A bird which comes and goes a great deal, and which just at present is conspicuous by its absence, is the wax-eye or blight-bird (Zosterops coerulescens), but which was very abundant till the beginning of winter. It has piasSS3bly gone into the back country and the bush districts for the breeding season, though some are still no doubt to be met with among the orchards and gardens. If this bird is truly indigenous in New Zealand, then it is a southern form which has recently increased and migrated northwards; but It is more likely to be a comparatively modern natural immigrant from Australia. Buller considers that it is an indigenous species; but it seems to me the record he gives of its migrations is against this hypothesis. Captain Howell stated that ho first noticed these birds at Milford Sound in 1832. In the fifties they were recorded by Mr Isaac Newton Watt, then resident magistrate at the Bluff, as coming apparently from Stewart Island, and all migrating northwards. They did not appear north of Cook Strait till 1856, when they were suddenly abundant, and were called "blight-birds," because they destroyed quantities of the "American blight." They remained only for about three months, from June to October, and then disappeared completely. In 1858 they appeared again about Wellington, and after that became permanent residents. In 1861 they were first observed in Hawke's Bay by the Natives, who called the little bird Tau-hou, or the stranger. They were recorded by Colenso in Napier in 1862, and by the Natives on the Upper Wanganui in 1863. In 1865 they were observed at Auckland, and by 1868 they had penetrated to the most northerly part of the North Island.

At their first appearance in settled districts their visits were made in the winter months, and they were hailed as valuable insectivorous birds by orchardists and gardeners. When they became resident permanently they discovered the potentialities of fruit, especially of plums and ripe pears, and now they are looked upon as great robbers in the fruit season. But the good they do for 10 months of the year probably far outweighs the toll they exact during the remaining two. I have not seen these little birds about Dunedin for some weeks; but it is quite characteristic of them to appear and disappear in this sudden and complete manner. Such as are to be found will nest early in October. They build a cupshaped nest, which is generally suspended by side fastenings to hanging vines, or to slender twigs of manuka and similar shrubs. These nests are very variable in structure, but are commonly made of green-coloured lichens, dry leaves, down from the clematis or thistle, and some spider-web, while the inside is commonly lined with long horsehair—a substance they have surely learned to use within recent years. In this are laid usually three eggs of a beautiful pale-blue colour, which are just about the same siza as those of the fantail.

A constant resident in our gardens is the little grey warbler, another of the few birds which have not only survived the advent of the white man and his feline and other destructive adjuncts, but seems actually to have increased in abundance in well-planted districts like the neighbourhood of Duneclin. My garden always contained a number, and just under my study window a pair nested for several years in succession. The nest was in a Japanese quince, and was always repaired and occupied by the end of August. This bird builds two types of nest. One is large and pear-shaped, with a hole at one side near the top. The other is bottle-shaped, and has the opening protected by a vestibule or porch like an arched rim, made of interwoven roots and fibres. This type of nest is about 6in long by 34-in in diameter. Whatever the form, the nest is most ingeniously constructed of soft stuff, such as moss, grass, vegetable fibres, and spider web. It takes the birds about five or six days to build, the male collecting and carrying the materials which the female artificer works into place. The interior is only about 2in deep, and the opening is so small that only the finger can get into it. Therefore the small boy who takes a warbler's eggs generally destroys the nest in trying to get them out. The inside of the nest is usually lined with soft feathers, and on these are laid three to six" very fragile eggs. These ai*e white, but more or less speckled and mottled with red or purplish-brown spots. It is always a marvel how the long-tailed cuckoo, which uses this little bird as the foster parent of its young, manages to get its egg into such a small nest. Those which nest in our gardens are not, as a rule, liable to have their domestic peace troubled by this rude invader; but the warblers which live in the bush at anv distance from dwellings are always selected for the honour of bringing up these young parasites. Another common bird outside our towns is the native lark or New Zealand pipit— Anthus Novse-Zealandise. This is another bird which certainly has not diminished in numbers since the days of European occupation. It does not seem to eat poisoned grain; but does a lot of good in living on small insects. It makes its nest of dry grass and fibres always on the ground, in some natural depression, and under the shelter of a tussock or bunch of rushes. The eggs are nearly always four in number, and are nearly an inch in length. They are not so dark as the eggs of the skylark, being pale-grey or ash-coloured, with numerous spots or freckles of dark grey. The birds are not so expert as the skylark in attempting to lure their enemies away from the nest. A skylark, like the home lapwing, will flutter down near the intruder and sham lameness, or merely invito the passer-by to pursue it, when it will inevitably flutter away in a direction opposite to that where its nest is placed. The pipit is not so long trained to the devices necessary to delude its enemies, and so

its nest is not difficult to find. Like many other species, it rears two broods in the year. In a former note I referred to the work being done by Mr H. Warden., of Wyndham, on the fungoid symbiotic growths which are found on the roots of certain pine trees. Mr Warden has recently sent me portions of the roots of other species of Podoearpus, and also of the Phyllocladus or celery pine. lam inclined to think that Mr Warden is on the track of what may prove to be a valuable piece of research. Most people who are unaware of what is meant by the scientific! spirit aro unable to realise the importance of pure_ scientific research. They measure everything oy its direct value in pounds, shillings, and pence. Well, here is a piece of work. which only seems to be the observation of the occurrence of certain fungi (which have not yet themselves been investigated) on the roots of certain forest trees, and the question may be asked. What is the use of such an investigation? My answer is that in all probability the discovery of the relationship bctween'thesa trees and their investing fungi will, give the clue to their mode of growth and more rapid _ development. We put native pine trees into our gardens and plantations, and wonder at their slow growth. But we do not put with them the fungus-infected soil which they require, and without which, perhaps they cannot thrive. This is not proven—it is merely advanced aa a hypothesis. But it is by the application of such observations and of pure research that discoveries arc made on which hinge great practical potentialities. If we had in New Zealand an institute well endowed by Government for the prosecution of ' scientific research, a question such as this of the relationship between the roots of trees and symbiotio fungi would be submitted to it, and if the experts thought it worthy of investigation they would recommend the expenditure of any sum requisite to enable it to be carried out. If a full investigation enabled foresters and horticulturists to apply new and successful methods to the cultivation of various plants which at present are found difficult to grow, the expenditure incurred in the research would be repaid to the country hundreds of times over. To give a practical example of what I mean, look at this case. Dr Cockayne, of Wellington, is at present engaged in an investigation on the variation of different species of Acffina or piripiris (biddy-bids). The so-called practical man sees nothing in this but a "piece of curious research after minute differences which are of no importance to anybody. But every botanist who knows what the science of botany means realises that his researches will probably throw a fiood of light on the whole problem of heredity, and that, the practical applications of hia discoveries are likely to prove of great value in connection with social problems. What is true of the heredity of the piripiri is likely to be true of tho heredity of man, and when we know more of this subject, we fhall make fewer mistakes in social and moral legislation. Every branch of science is intimately co-related with every other, and the smallest contribution to science either by observation or by experiment may prove to be of immense value. Therefore, though people walk out into the bush or on to the hillsides for the sake of recreation and enjoyment of the beauties of Nature, they may be contributing to the world's knowledge and to the betterment of .the race, and are cer« tainly on the right track for both.