MAORI NATURE NOTES

Pahiatua Herald, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 11401, 21 March 1930, Page 4

MAORI NATURE NOTES

iWritten for the Pahiatua Herald Copyright, J.H.S.I

KOEOK A (an awkward old fellow) the blue penguin. A true blue among New Zealand birds if often seen, but strangely enough never among our flowers. Every sea aider is familiar with this light blue bird, its w-.ugs having a white margin.’ It is plentiful on Kapiti and other rocky islands, where it breeds undisturbed. At other seasons it lives at sea a. life for which nature has specially equ pped it. It swims as tast as a porpoise, using the short flappers and the strong web feet either oil the suriaee or at great depths, iu a heavy storm it is said to seek the coral bottom, and there find fish an t | crabs to store up for futur© digestion. On shore, it is the most clumsy bird alive, with but little power of progression. It breeds iu deep tunneis, sometimes winding to a depth of ten feet from a cliff side. When nesting on a low rocky island, the birds work together to clear a seres of little tracks to the selected spots, thus assisting to overcome their awkward means oi' locomotion by land or air. Ashore, they are as helpless as a stranded flying fish.