THE NATURALIST

Otago Witness, Issue 3774, 13 July 1926, Page 77

THE NATURALIST

A NEW MIGRANT.

. By Cetktos. (Fo> THI WITHZM.) A local in the Otago Daily Times reports of a strange occurrence during a football match between Grafton Athletics and Richmond at Carlaw Park, Auckland, a few Saturdays ago. After the game had been stopped once to secure a pair of dogs which were taking too prominent a part for the comfort of the players, a strangedooking bird was seen to hover slowly over the middle of the field, and then, during a scrum, land among the players. The referee had to stop the game again, and threw the bird into the air, expecting to see it fly away. However, the stranger merely fluttered a few yards, and landed again on the side line, where it stayed. After the match was over it was discovered that this bird was a curlew, utterly exhausted, and with its lower beak broken at the tip. It was later sent to the zoo, the first of its kind to arrive there. This is not the first curlew to appear in New Zealand, though it may be the first to arrive here of its own accord. The Hon. G. M. Thomson, in his book on naturalised animals in New Zealand, notes, concerning the Australian curlew (Numenius cyanopus): “The Canterbury Society (Acclimatisation) received two of these birds from Australia in 1888, but there is no record of what was done with them.” Buller, also, in his “Birds of New Zealand” (vol. II), mentions the same bird, but I have been unable to look this up at present. Curlews are closely related to the plovers, godwits, sandpipers, and snipes, typically waders, which usually inhabit sea shores or river sides, although some, including the curlew, prefer arid wastes. The majority are strong fliers, and migratory. The curlew is almost cosmopolitan, and is remarkable for its prolonged, decurved bill and its elongated legs. One form, the whaup, breeds freely on the moorlands of Britain, and extends throughout northern Europe and Asia. After the breeding season it migrates south, visiting the Atlantic Islands, the whole of Africa, and the Indian region. The. plumage is pale brown, with darker streaks; the rump, tail, and axillaries being white; the belly is white, and the breast nearly so in winter. In habit it is wary. From autumn to spring it inhabits the shores of Great Britain, but lives mainly on insects, worms, berries, and so forth. Its cry is a wild, rippling note; while four large, pear-shaped, olive and brown eggs are deposited in an ample depression formed—-on boggy or heathery ground. Other species are to be found throughout the whole of the northern regions of the northern hemisphere. The bird which landed in Auckland is most probably either Numenius cyanopus or Numenius minutus, more probably the former. Numenius cyanopus, or the Australian curlew, is a distinct East Siberian form, which migrates to Australia, and occasionally New Guinea and Borneo in winter. Numenius minutus, also an East Siberian form, migrates to the Malay Islands and Australia also in winter.. By winter, in either case, is meant the northern winter corresponding in time with our summer. Perhaps, then, since a little previous to the time when this curlew landed in Auckland, it was the time for the general northward flight from Australia. This bird, by some means (perhaps by reason of the injury to its beak), lost its sense of direction, and, failing to join up with the flocks of migrants of its kind, set out on its own; but, heading more to the east than to the north, arrived in Auckland, instead of East Siberia. The exhausted condition and tameness of a wonderful flyer' and an unusually wary bird, point to a long flight, and a certain bewilderment of senses. The allied godwit, sandpiper, and knot, common to visitors to our shores, all breed in and migrate from the same regions as the Australian curlew. Godwits breed in Eastern Siberia from June to the end of July, and then they leave, passing through country after country, until they reach these southern shores, arriving in October, November, and December. They spread as far as Stewart Island, and ven to the Chatham Islands, and leave at the end of April or the beginning of May. They arrive in small parties, which evade observation; but they leave the northern parts of our shores in large flocks, which have been seen to depart by several people. They are not unlike the cur'ew in form, but have a straight or slightly curved beak, while that of the curlew is distinctly" decurved. The plumage changes in summer and winter. Here they are in wintea, garb, but soma

have been noticed with summer plumage. Sometimes they are found all the year round, probably having missed one migration, and awaiting the next. The sandpipers breed in Siberia and Alaska, and spread to Australia, New Caledonia, and New Zealand. In New Zealand it is yet doubtful whether it is, or is not, an annual visitor. They are a fearless bird, frequenting marfihy places, and has a snipe-like flight. The knots, also, breed in Siberia, and visit us during the summer months. They are in winter plumage, though there are two specimens ,in the Canterbury Museum in their summer plumage. These were secured in 1899 at Lake Ellesmere. These birds all breed in Siberia, the coldest place they visit during their migrations. This habit is common with all migratory birds. Why this should be is not altogether certain. Did they all come originally from the colder parts, all—that is, all migratory birds —migrate only towards warmer climates after the breeding season only to respond to the call to return next year and repeat this performance till the habit became instinct? Or is it a higher instinct with birds to nest in the coldest, hardest places? Certainly by so doing they escape the haunts of many enemies. Cold and lack of food can be combated with sufficient energy, while the lassitude and enervation of warmer climates and the increase in the number of the enemies are perhaps more to be avoided.