WILD LIFE IN NEW ZEALAND

Otago Witness, Issue 3429, 2 December 1919, Page 61

WILD LIFE IN NEW ZEALAND

By the Hon. G. M. Thomson, F.L.S. No. 71—THE COMMON SPARROW. (Continued.) My last paper dealt with the introduction of the sparrow into New Zealand. Once they got into the country they very quickly increased in all parts where men and their works were to oe found, for the sparrow is a sociable bird, and, in spite of all the abuse we give it, is a constant companion to man hi all his settlements in temperate regions of the earth. In many parts they are looked upon as an unmitigated pest. But while farmers rail at them to-day, it has to be remembered that at the .time of their introduction crops of gram and grass were threatened with absolute destruction by hordes of grubs of Various kinds. Mr Drummond, in his very able pamphlet on " Our Feathered Immigrants," published 12 years ago, has summarised the case for and against the sparrow as far as New Zealand is concerned, with the balance, in his judgment, very much against £he sparrow. Nearly every county council and agricultural association wages war against him by selling poisoned grain to the farmers and offering; bonuses for eggs. Yet he continues to thrive and flourish. The sparrow seems to he dependent upon man to a large extent for its living. Mr R. E," Clouston, writing of the Gowland Downs, in the Nelson district, some three years 'ago, says that it is noted for the abundance of its native bird life, and also for the prevalence of such introduced birds as thrushes, blackbirds, skylarks, and particularly redpolls. Yet in all the years he was there he only saw about two sparrows. Evidently while they eat many insects, they do riot feed on succulent fruits to any great extent, and they seem to.require a proportion ©f hard seeds and grains. Mr Philpott, who is one of the most observant naturalists in New Zealand, states that while these birds are abundant in cultivated country they do not penetrate far into 'the bush. Yet they must be capable of sustained flight, for they have found their way and are increasing in the Chatham Islands, which are distant 450 miles from the nearest part of New Zealand. The breeding habits of the* sparrow have been pretty closely studied, and Oy no one more closely than by Mr T. W. Klirk, of the Agricultural Department. The following is a summary of his facts: The breeding season begins in spring, the first brood appearing in September, and the last in April. There are never fewer than five eggs in a nest,.. but usually six or seven. Incubation lasts 13 days. The young are fed in the nest for eight or nine days, then return to it for two or three nights, and afterwards shift for themselves. In five instances fresh eggs were found in the nest with young birds, and Mr Kirk thinks that the young birds do the chief work of incubation of succeeding broods. In at least one instance marked birds reared in September were themselves breeding at the end of March. Calculating from nests which were watched, he thinks that, the average annual increase is five broods of six each, and this is a low estimate. Allowing for deaths at the rate of one-third of the whole annual increase, then one pair will produce 11 pairs at the end of the first year; 121 pairs at the end of the second year; 1131 pairs at the end of the third; 14,641 pairs at the end of the fourth; and 161,051 pairs, or an actual increase of 322,100 birds, in five years, without taking into account ' (1) the early broods which are themselves breeding, (2) the fact that more than five broods are probably produced in a year, and (3) that often more than six eggs are produced at a time.

The average farmer's opinion on the subject of the food of .the sparrow is valueless ; he sees only the harm that is done at sowing time and in harvest, and concludes, on very imperfect evidence, that the bird is only a grain-feeder. Mr Kirk says: " I have myself dissected 53 birds, taken at all seasons of the year, and am forced to admit that the remains of insects found in them constituted bnt a very small portion of the total food.* Unfortunately he does not say where he took 'the birds which he examined. He himself dwells in or near a large town, and the chances are that a considerable amount of the food of the ' sparrows examined would "he from households, grain from horse-droppings, etc. Mr Kirk's communication was made to the Wellington Philosophical Institute in 1878. In the discussion which followed Mr W. T. L. Travers said that " his experience led him to believe that .their principal food was insects. The cicadse . especially are caught in hundreds bv them." Sir Walter Buller says: " If the sparrow is fond of ripe grain, it is still fonder of the ripe seeds of the variegated 'Scotch thistle. This formidable weed, threatened to at one time to overrun the whole colony. Where it had once fairly established itself it seemed wellnigh" impossible to eradicate it, and it was spreading with alarming rapidity, forming a dense growth which nothing could face. In this state of affairs the sparrow? took to eating the ripe seed. In tens of thousands they lived on the thistle, always giving it the preference to wheat or barley. They have succeeded in conquering the weed. In all directions it is dyirtr out." No one else has recorded this interesting observation, but for some reason or other the plant referred to, which i? technically known as Cardans marianus. the blessed thistle, has not increased to the extent that it at one time gave promise of doing. I have myself watched sparrows hawking for moths and crickets, and there i. c no doubt that for about six weeks the young broods are fed exclusively on insects. During the Farmers' Union Confer ence of May, 1918, one delegate stated £hat during the preceding season his grain

crop of 40 acres -was black with caterpillars, as many as three or four being on each head. Then sparrows came along and attacked them, and in a short time not a caterpillar was to be seen. In the neighbourhood of Sydney, New South Wales, I am informed that several species of Cicadas are almost extinct, and this ia due very largely to sparrows. But these birds .also eat seeds of several weeds, and I have myself observed them feeding on the fruits of the large meadow plaintain (Plantago major), which is a most useless weed, and of the dandelion (Taraxacum dens-leonis). Dr Cleland, writing of the food of the sparrow in New South Wales, sayßt "One hundred and twenty-seven sparrows were examined, the majoritv of them coming from Richmond. Sixty-four were found to feed on wheat or maize. Various grass seeds were found in others. Occasionally they have been found to feed on white ants, cabbage-moth larvse, cutworms, locusts, blowflies, and aphids. The large amount of grain eaten far outweighs any value that the sparrow may have as an insectivorous bird during the period when such grain is available, but during other seasons of the year it probably plays a mildly useful part." It is to be noted that the birds referred to by Dr Cleland were shot in May. Had sparrows been examined in September to November, the results would almost certainly have been different. He goes on to say: " One of the birds examined contained 400 millet seeds, besides maize and other grasses." Many gardeners bear a grudge against sparrows for the harm. they do to their plants. They frequently dig up a row of newly-sown peas, though they are not as bad as pigeons in this respect, and destroy the first crop unless it is well protected. Last spring they fed on my autumn-sown peas all the winter, picking the young leaves as they developed, till I thought the whole bed was "destroyed. However, once other food became abundant they left the peas alone, and I had a very abundant crop fairly early in the year. The main effect of- their attacks was to make the young plants branch very freely from the apex of the root. They are also often very destructive to flowers, picking them to pieces for no ostensible cause. Primroses, violets, and crocuses are the most commonly attacked, and these are all spring-flowering. The habit is recorded from several parts of New Zealand. I have sometimes thought that it was perhaps due to a "worm 1' the bud," but could never find any. It is" more like a case of Satan finding evil work for idle beaks to do. The sparrows have several enemies besides poisoned grain, cats, and small boys. The native hawk, kingfisher,, the longtailed cuckoo, and the shining cuckoo are all credited with catching and destroying these birds. But still they thrive and increase.