IN TOUCH WITH NATURE

Otago Witness, Issue 3994, 30 September 1930, Page 5

IN TOUCH WITH NATURE

By

ORGAN NOTES.

J. Drummond, F.L.S., F.Z.S.

The organ-bird that North Island correspondents mention fairly often in their notes is the native crow, although some writers prefer, on account of its notes, to call it the bellbird, which is a much smaller bird, much more plentiful, and more entitled to have its notes compared to the toll of sweetly tuned bells. Some of th e native crow’s notes have th e qualities of bells; these resemble the tui's notes rather than the bellbird’s; but the notes that distinguish the native crow, contrasting, as far as it is possible for bird music to contrast, with the unmusical notes of the Old Country’s crow, and of its cousin, the rook, are organ notes, long-drawn-out and surpassingly deep and rich as described by Sir Walter Buller.

The«e wonderful particular organ notes b e ,uttered by the male alone. Sir Walter Buller has given by far the best description of this songster’s efforts: " I nave often heard two or more kokakas—lie uses the Maori name—each in a different key, sounding forth these rich organ notes with rapturous effect; and it is well worth a night’s discomfort in the bush to be awakened by this rare forest music. I never heard it without being reminded of Charles Waterton’s reference to tne pretty snow-white campanero, ‘ Astceon would stop in mid-chase, and Orpheus himself would drop his lute, to listen to its A no *her of its notes may be desci ibed as a loud cackle; other notes are hardly distinguishable from the notes of the tui resembling the soft tolling of a distant bell; but only in the early morning can they be heard to perfection. There is still another note, very much like the mtpving of a cat, but this is heard only occasionally, and immediately before am, indicating, it would seem, a hi<»hlv fonnrl IV f e h natur i e ’” Otlle V list ener&-in have D ° teS V e 1 markably sweet and paintne, comparable to the notes of a ?enfpd eXQU,Slt - 7 ? layed u P° n ’ and repr<> f-u t kn’”Ti< ’ nade< l ua tely, by “ Vio, ku, mi, Au, which seem near, even when the songster is a fair distance away.

In those days most reports of the North J*’ a " d C F°?r districts in [he m.ddle of the North Island. Ito distribufh® been irre ° ular and illc tbere was a time when its dark bluish-grey coat, sheeny and silkv S Dted bright ultramarine blue HiV wt WaS often , se en in forests between tiie Whangarei and the Northern Wairoa Rivers, in the Kaitara Range, Whanged -? be 3 lan » orewa Forest, which be-’ tween lauranga and Rotorua, in the Wab Jnd°W an ir in i parts of the Hawked Bay and Wellington provinces.

1 r- u rest ° . ™em being a rich oran«/p Which sometimes changes to vermilion m^e n than°the a n Pa H nt ’ it; h - as dec r«ied th nor J thern species has. Much reportri n a“a der br2d K es since it was reported. It did not spend all its time light e scru < b tS 'lti t haunted °Peu s P a ces and SnrL i Jt ran ? e was from wooded sea E n“ ountalns 3000 feet above sea level. On some mountain rano-es it it a fo'th ry i P C , nt^ U • o Severe weather “drove it to the lowlands. Sometimes adults were seen roaming, in pairs, with their young* u * ually three. . Banks Peninsula once abounded in native crows. In Otago they were plentiful on Mount Cargill and in forests near Catlins River. iVy graced Nelson forests with their presence PerihPw eV !7 wooded range and valley on the West Coast sheltered hundreds. Those places, and the Southern Sounds are where they may be expected to linger still t? P?®. S° ut h Island. Many years ago, a Hokitika resident snared a pair in forests near the town and kept them in captivity. Nests found in Milford Sound were massive, eight inches deep, made of rough material, but with a comfortable, finished cup in the middle.

Short and feeble flight may have led to the native crows’ decrease all over the Dominion. Their favourite food, small , ul L a ? d be rries, are still sufficiently plentiful to support - them in large numbers. They can fall back on insects. Their crops have been distended with seeds of the tataramoa and berries of the kaiwiria the kareao and the fuchsia, the leaves of the thistle and of the wild cabbage, and the white flowers of the clematis.

Sir Walter Buller may be unfair when he attributes craftiness to the North Island species. Both species certainly are inquisitive, and at the same time, shy and friendly. To their credit they lack the audacity, malice, covetousness, and cupidity of members of the crow family in the Old Country and in America. A sprightly North Island crow that shared Sir Walter Buller’s apartments in Wellington for a week amused him with displays of intelligence. It usually hid under a side-table in a dark corner. In cold weather, it stole quietly to inside the fender in order to enjoy the fire. His presence became familiar to it, but as soon as a stranger entered, it sprang up and hopped off to its dark corner. Native crows in Otago were seen travelling through the bush on foot; in single file, sometimes in companies numbering as many as 20. By a succession of hops, they went quickly in the follow-my-leader style. If the leader leapt over a stone or a fallen tree in the line of march, every other crow in the ranks did the same thing.

As in many New Zealand birds, albinism, or white plumage, has been noted in the native crows. One of theee, caught in the Rimutaka Ranges, and kept in captivity, was a perfect and very beautiful albino. Its whole plumage was white. The foreneck and the underpants had a creamy tinge. Its wattles, instead of blue, were colourless. The Wairarapa district contributed a native crow with a washed-out, ashy grey costume, except on the throat, which was almost the nor,mal bluish-grey. A partial albino caught in the . Spencer Mountains, Nelson province, had the back' of the head, the sides and the back largely marked with pure white; ' A few or the quills were completely white, and white ■ feathers were scattered on other parts.

Interested in the cicadas which many people know as locusts, Mr P. H. Bourke, Waimajnaku, Hokianga, has sent a piece ot wood in which a female laid her eggs, making the herringbone pattern described in this column a few weeks ago. The pattern usually is on the surface of a a2 f, er the bark had been removed. Air Bourke states that the neatly carved piece of wood that attracted his attention was, strangely, in the heart of a totara log. While splitting the log for posts, he saw a pattern like patterns he had seen on truit trees and other soft woods, made by cicadas. The totara tree was 3ft 6in in diameter at the butt. It was 2ft in diameter where he split it for posts—solid, hard heart. The pattern was on the extreme centrepiece, no thicker than a man s finger. He writes: “ Some people may doubt this, but I can assure you that it is an absolute fact. The rounded shape ot the piece of wood first caught my eye, and then I noticed the cicada’s pattern, lhe piece of wood clearly shows that it was the very heart of the log. small knots showing where it branched while it was very young.”

The Old Country’s crow has not been introduced into New Zealand, but rooks have been acclimatised in the country for almost 70 years. They have established themselves at Fendalton, North Canterbury, Lake Taupo, Hawke’s Bay, Hick’s Bay a nd perhaps some other places. Mr E. S. Toone Waiotahi, Bay of Plenty, has sought this information because a young rook straying far from its mates, visited a neighbour’s farm and stayed about the piggery, disclosing a liking for separated milk. “It must be a young rook, Mr Toone writes. “as the feathers We rt S !l 11 °? L be “PP e r part of the bill, unlike the adult. Nobody to whom I have spoken on the subject seems to have heard of such a bird in the Bay of Plenty. I know the rook, the carrion crow, the hooded crow, the ravens at the Tower, the jackdaw, and the crows of Colombo, and it seems to me to be a j'oung rook, although I always think of rooks as keeping together, usually in flocks of a fair S l Ze ‘ ! on,y no T ise 1 heard it make was at a distance. It reminded me of the crows at Colombo rather than of rooks.”

The young rook may be the forerunner of rookeries in the Bay of Plenty.' In that cane, residents will have one of the most intelligent birds in the world a destroyer of grubs, insects, caterpillars, worms and slugs; but when their grain is newly _ sown, when the crops are ripe, when their walnuts are ready to be picked and when their potatoes, should be dug up, they will wish the black rook further Experienced farmers who were members' of the New Zealand Parliament in 1923 vigorously condemned the rook. Other rsew Zealand farmers more tolerant, welcome it. ’