IN TOUCH WITH NATURE.

Otago Witness, Issue 3886, 4 September 1928, Page 75

IN TOUCH WITH NATURE.

BIRDS ON STEWART ISLAND.

By

J. Drummond,

F.L.S., F.Z.S.

Although the South Island crow has been reported as plentiful south of Paterson Inlet, Stewart Island, it is seen on that island only occasionally. Mr W. R. E. Oliver saw it at the foot of Mount Anglem 18 years ago. It has been reported from the south side of Freshwater River, from Rakiahua River, and from the south side of Paterson Inlet. Writing on August 7, Mr A. W. Traill, sen., states that some weeks previously he saw two of these aberrant members of the highest and most specialised family in the world of birds, the crows, represented in this Dominion chiefly by the rook, introduced not. for sentimental reasons, but to check the insects, and now condemned for the quantities of grain and fruit it takes. “ I had the pleasure of watching two crows for some time,” Mr Traill writes. “ They were quite tame, or, rather, they were indifferent to my presence. Some birds, .such as the wood-robin and the fantailf are not only tame, but also decidedly friendly, and will answer to a chirp, or pick up a grub at a man’s feet when he is working in the garden; but the crows are simply indifferent. The bush in which they feed is much frequented by deer, and I, probably, was looked upon as an idle and aimless variety of the deer tribe which they had not seen before, but in which they were not at all interested. I advanced closer and closer to them and put out my stick, to see if they would hop on to it, but they merely avoided it by a few feet, and went on feeding, examining each leaf carefully, and, apparently, getting small insects here and there. Each of these crows had blue and orange wattles, but the orange was only a strip, less than a quarter of an inch deep. On the other hand, a crow I saw some months ago had only blue on its wattles; no orange was visible. As I note in my copy of ‘ The Animals of New Zealand ’ that the North Island crow has only blue on its wattles, I shall be pleased to know whether the colours of the wattles vary according to the seasons.”

The wattles of the two species of New Zealand crows seem to vary a good deal in colour. Normally, the North Island crow’s wattles are all blue, a bright ultramarine blue. In a yoifhg bird they are pale blue. In confinement the wattles have shown notable variations in colour, according to age and other physical conditions. The margin of a wattle may take on a decidedly yellowish tinge, and change to blue again. The South Island crow’s wattles, normally, are a rich orange and blue at the base, but the orange sometimes changes to Vermillion. The crows originally appear in ornithological literature as Glaucopis, grey-eyed, an epithet applied to Minerva, patroness of all useful , and elegant arts, goddess of all wisdom and knowledge. The owl, the serpent, the rooster, and olive tree were sacred to her The crows that belong to this Dominion were dedicated to her memory long after she had disappeared into the limbo of old-time myths, probably on account of their glaucous—bluish-grey—plumage. The complete plumage of an individual crow may be subjected to abnormal colouration. An albino crow caught on the Riinutaka ranges, Wellington, and kept by a settler in captivity for several months, had a completely white plumage, except for a creamy tinge on the foreneck and the under-parts The pureness of the white was a beautiful background for the blue wattles. In the Wairarapa district a partial albino had a plumage of washed-out ash-grey.

On June 4 last Mr Traill was resting quietly at the mouth of a forest stream. A weka, a few yards away, was making a great to-do. Its head bobbed up and down amongst the fern, while it maintained the throaty clucking usually uttered by wekas when they have chicks. Presently it slipped into the water and swam across, a distance of about 10 yards, continuing the clucking. Nothing resulting, it swam back, crossed the stream again and still continued its anxious notes. Then, to Mr Traill’s surprise, a dear little chick, “ just a ball of almost black down,” took to the water and boldly followed its mother. More calls, and a second and a third chick followed, and the united family went off quite happv. ( *

Mr Traill writes: "I have seen a mother weka, and a land-bird at that, giving her chicks' a swimming lesson. That clearly was the object, as tne stream could have been crossed dry-footed a few yards further up. There are several interesting points in this very pretty picture. It was the first time I had seen a weka with young in winter, although kakas and teal ducks occasionally breed then on Stewart Island. Again, I was struck with the difference in the sizes of the chicks. The first one to swim was hardly more than three inches long; the second, although still in the. downy stage, was four inches; the third was larger still, and showed pin-feathers. They followed one another at intervals of half a minute, the youngest first, this,! evidently, being the rule in that family. It is well known that a weka will take to water when pressed, or to reach an outlying island. They have even appeared orr different occasions on Ulva Island, which must have necessitated a swim of well over’ half a mile. On one occasion only have I seen a weka swimming off the land. It was long after sunset. The weka was swimming to one of. the Bravo Islands. The tide -was fairly strong, half a knot at least, but the weka, allowing for- that, was taking an oblique course. It was not in the least alarmed when our boat came close. They sit high in the water, seem quite at home, and use their feet only. Danger from hawks, skua-gulls and seagulls would prevent their crossing in daylight, which accounts for the fact that they are seldom seen swimming.”

Last summer, when going down the Ahikia River on a lovely morning, Mr Traill’s launch swent along rapidly, following the river’s very winding course.

Behind, there was a shag, flying high and making for the open sea. It also followed the river’s course. Mr Traill thought that it was a stupid bird for not making‘a bee-line. He states that he soon learned, not for the first time, that the “denizens of the wild ” know their own business best. Like a bolt from the blue, a bush hawk shot out from a hill close by and struck at the shag; but at the moment of the impending contact the shag had disappeared. It had fallen like a stone into the friendly gleaming water. Making a long dive, it was seen no more. Turning to a Maori friend who had watched the incident, Mr Trai.> said: “Did you ever before see a bush-hawk strike at such a large bird.” “ No,” the friend replied, “ but I reckon that he was mate kai (very hungry) this morning.”

The Stewart Island weka was found by Mr H. Guthrie-Smith to be much handsomer than the North Island weka he became closely acquainted with on his sheep station at Tutira, between Napier and Wairoa. He describes the Stewart Island weka’s costume as chestnut, 'but, a splendid male weka he saw on the island hqd a rich red-brown costume, his feathers shining with resplendent health. Except near the settlements, on stretches of drifting sand, and on the saturated peats of the mountain tops, Mr Guthrie-Smith found the Stewart Island weka very plentiful. It takes the eggs and the young of some other birds, also rats and mice, but its chief foodstuffs are beetles, worms, grubs, snails, slugs, roots and berries. On the stony beaches of the inlets and coasts, there are shellfish and crabs. In one of his characteristic passages, Mr Guthrie-Smith states: “It is when the weka is seen prowling along wet shores, dislodging stones as large as turnips, rising to full height, delivering with its bill a blow worthy of Porthos or Ivanhoe, or when it stands over a bone, holding it down with one foot like a dog, and like a dog, wrenching from it muscles, meat, and tendrons—it is then that you can believe that even a weasel might fall before one of these birds.”

Rats, not weasels, are blamed by Mr Guthrie-Smith for most damage done to native birds. Many years’ experience at Tutira have convinced him that rats have done more harm to the native birds there than shooting, fires, dogs, cats, weasels and birds of prey combined. The whole conclusion of the matter is, in his opinion, that the damage done by stoats and weasels has been exaggerated or. in recent years, they have become less plentiful. He considers that the alternative is not improbable, as many alien creatures, to his knowledge, after a great increase in a restricted area, have spread out over the countryside, and, in some cases, disappeared. In the twilight of a protracted southern summer on Stewart Island, Mr Guthrie-Smith often watched wekas hunt grown-up rats through tussock and tangle fern. He believes that in parts where the weka is plentiful, camps are kept free of rats by wekas more than by cats and dogs. A curious little bundle often found in the wilds—fur inside and skin outside—is the last stage of a rat taken by a weka. As a dog acts when wrenching meat from a bone, a weka places its foot on its prey, and finally skins the body in the same way as a footballer “skins”, his jersied mate.