EXTRACTS FROM TWO LETTERS.

Otago Witness, Issue 4043, 8 September 1931, Page 68

EXTRACTS FROM TWO LETTERS.

Dear Little Folk.—The following pieces about the Australian honey-sucker and the English nightingale are extracts from two letters 1 received by last mail They are so charming that I think you may like to read them, especial las this is the mating season of our own New Zealand birds. DOT. A DAY IN SYDNEY’S BUSH. By A Gardener. Being a lover of birds, and having been brought up to k”<>w ma- '- of thei’ habits and notes. I gave myself a spell from the garden for the day, and. w:t.!i a friend, took a hamper well away from village life and traffic policemen and enjoyed the early springtime amongst many species of wild Howers and birds My special mission was to gather native currants, wh’ch grow on a kind of - lender tree of weeping habit; the small green berries appear all along the fine broom like s'ems. The most up to-date metho.: of gathering the fru't in quantity is to spread a sheet or some similar- articbon the ground under the tree, and comb the bevvies off with the fr-gers. moving the sheet as required, from tree to tree. My friend was on another mission, to visit a si<k brother, so, after a real bush picnic, we separated for the time being. I turning into the bush lands, and she along a track to her brother's home.

1 had not been amongst the berries long v. hen my attention was drawn to the many beautiful and varied notes of the birds. They had wakened up to the fact that the day was Sunday, and full of sun. too. How their little throats worked in their supreme effort to outdo

others in the same happy mood! It all made me very contented. One beautiful bird of black and yellow, a honey-sucker by name, with a long curved bill for the handy purpose of probing deep into some flowers for the honey they live on, had a small piece of bark in her mouth. “ Oh, you are at it so soon, are you? ” I thought. “ I’ll just follow up my old school-day pranks, and see where your family will be reared and taught to fly.” From tree to tree she flew, wearing an aspect of mistrust in me. She led me a wild scramble away and then back to almost the starting point, so, as a last hope. I whistled the old note 1 remembered.

What a difference in the little beauty! She almost dropped the wee morsel which was intended for a part of the wall of the nest in her endeavour to welcome the sound. I could almost notice her expression of trust. From tree to tree she flew, only small distances this time, and in quite a different direction. It did not take long for her to reach a charming lilli-pilli tree, with dark green foliage and cream berries with a reddish blush on one side. There she got to work in the usual business-like way. Off she flewagain, this time right out of sight, but very soon returned, with a further supply for the nest and a slightly different note, as much as to say:

“ I hurried up. Are vou going to watch me ? ”

I did so, and spent quite a long time, but then found the business for which I ha t f come was being neglected, so gave my feathered friend a few notes in parting. and, with a wish for happy days to come, returned to my currant gathering. The smell of the wattle and other wild flowers seemed like a tonic, so I did not leave before sounds from the birds had gone which denoted the approach of sunset and the end of a perfect day. I have come to the conclusion that one can spend too many full days about a garden and lose a lot of variety which is more beneficial to health than is sameness, day after day. Also, in the end, the dear garden will look just as well. AN ENGLISH NIGHTINGALE. By A New Zealander. I have heard my first nightingale. We went to Ockley, in Surrey, at the beginning of June, and on the Saturday morning it was hot and sunny and everything was full of joy. It was the birds’ mating season: Chaffinches, robins, and larks were everywhere, and over all could be heard the blackbird's thrilling son< r — “ Chiff-chaff.”

We made for a quiet lane which led to a hill, with a church hidden in the trees and a degd end, and suddenly we heard a faint note which swelled’ and swelled and then burst into a song and a trill. I have never been so thrilled before. We sat down by the road at 11.15 and kept still, and then, without any warning, it began in the hedge behind us. If I had stood up and put my hand into the hedge I could almost have touched the singer. I have never heard anything so exquisite. Its nest and wee wife must have been near, so we sat until 12.45 and heard two alternately, besides an accompaniment of blackbird's, chaffinches, wrens, and bullfinches. One feels so selfish not being able to share such joy.

We cam e back at night and listened again. It is the crescendo on one note ■hat gives a nightingale away, and you feel you can t bear it, it is so amazing from a smallish brown bird.

TO ALL. Dear Little Folk, What a large number of new members ♦o we'come the spring! Fifteen in all! It is splendid, is it not? 'And you have ■ll written me such happy, “holiday” Kinds of letters, that I have been delighted to read them, particularly those -'f-Golden Star of Westland. Mezzo. Mount Egmont Princess, Bonny Lesley, Seaside Girl, Cheerio, Tom from the ironwoods, and Lady of the Valley. I think that for most of you school begins this week, so I wish you good luck in the coming term, with many successes and no bad marks.— Your loving _ DOT.