NATURE—AND MAN

Southland Times, Issue 22159, 30 October 1933, Page 2

NATURE—AND MAN

GOVERNOR-GENERAL’S LEAD. A REAL NEW ZEALANDER. (Edited by Leo Fanning.) Lord Bledisloe came to New Zealand for a limited time as Governor-General, but he has given unlimited service for the Dominion —service which should be a perpetual stimulus to the people Here in the preservation of the country’s natural beauty. “Vandalism in your rural areas merits eternal vigilance,” remarked his Excellency recently. During his many journeys through the country Lord Bledisloe has seen sad evidence of vandalism, which he has condemned as emphatically as his position would permit. If, say, ten thousand of the people born in the Dominion had as far-sighted a view of New Zealand’s welfare as the Gov-ernor-General has, the education tasks of the Native Bird Protection Society, the Forestry League, Beautifying Associations and similar organizations would be much less difficult than they are now. A strong enlightened public opinion would prevent the stupid desecration of forests. The rights of the people, in the mass, and posterity would not be sacrificed to selfish sectional interests. A big debt of gratitude is due to Lord Bledisloe for his powerful advocacy of scenery-preserva-tion. “This source of wealth has, as yet, hardly been scratched, still less fully tapped,” he says, in an effort to make New Zealanders recognize the truth that the conservation of natural beauty can be profitable.

Roadside Planting. The Canterbury Roadside Beautifying Association continues to make good progress. Of course, there are pessimistic persons who say: “What’s the use?”, but this dismal note is not discouraging the promoters of treeplanting. It is a movement which should spread to many districts of the North and South Islands.. The climate and soil in many localities of the North Island would favour the raising of trees which would provide food for native birds. Volunteers are needed to help in the achievement of this ideal. In his book “The Practical Value of Birds” Junius Henderson gives some striking figures of their help to man in the destruction of seeds of weeds. “The finch family, the largest family of birds, including sparrows of many species,” he wrote, “are pre-eminently seed-eaters, having bills especially adapted to the cracking of the seeds of various weeds. An examination of 4000 stomachs of native North American finches and sparrows of various species showed that during the colder half of the year their food consists almost entirely of weed seeds. In a garden, in two months, they may destroy 90 per cent, of the seeds of such weeds as pigeon grass and ragweed. The tree-sparrow alone in one state is said to consume annually 875 tons of seeds of obnoxious weeds.” Students of nature in New Zooland may well be amazed and amused by the wild assertions of deer-defend-ers. These persons continue to turn blind eyes to the havoc of deer in the forests and deaf ears to the argument against those destructive animals. “The main point to remember, wrote a deer-advocate, is that theie are equally as many in favour of the protection of deer as the preservation of native forests.” Such an allegation is sheer imagination, inspired by stupidity. Happily there is unmistakable proof of a strongly growing public opinion against the deer nuisance, which must be abolished for the country’s good. , A writer on New Zealand birds mentions that the red-billed or . mackerel gull is an active hunter of insects on cultivated and pastoral ground. In northern districts of the North Island huge flocks of these birds are seen—particularly during the winter months —fossicking for insects on fields and pastures. These gulls have been observed chasing, with neck outstretched, insects which they flushed, from the grass.

The Ways of Bell Birds.

Recent reports from various localities show that the planting of suitable trees and shrubs in private gardens is attracting melodious bell-birds. They will increase steadily and surely in accordance with the provision of food and protection against enemies. Here are some notes of Mr Edgar Stead on those delightful songsters:— _ “The singing of the bell-bird in chorus is by no means uncommon. So far as my observations go, only cock birds take part in it, and it is not done with any intention of displaying to the hens. The song of the bell-bird varies considerably in different districts, and also at different seasons and even at different times of the day; the dawn song, for instance, is used as a greeting to the day, and not again , un j, next morning. Many of the bell-bird s notes are quite indistinguishable from a tui’s. In most cases one can tell which bird it is, but there are times when I do not think anyone could say for certain.

“Bell-birds are lively, and also very pugnacious, chasing their own kind or other birds in and out among the branches with great speed, and making a loud whirring noise with their wings while doing so. They are always rather noisy in flight, but there is no doubt that they can increase this noise at will. During courtship, and before the hen begins to s jt, the cock bird feed s her—not extensively, but little titbits now and then, which she receives with mouth open and wings quivering after the manner of a young bird. Incubation is carried out by the hen only, and during that period, she leaves the nest once or twice during the day to feed, though she is also fed on the nest by her mate. She sits very close, and if approached very quietly may be touched before leaving the nest. Even when she does leave it she will often go only a few inches, and there, crouching low, she will utter a plaintive cry. Some hens, when disturbed, however, leave the nest with a rush, hopping about nearby in an agitated manner, giving their alarm call continuously—a sharp, shrill note quickly repeated. The young when in the nest, and for some time after leaving it, are fed entirely on insects. Even when the parents are eating honey, they give their young insects, collecting them by searching diligently among, the foliage at the ends of branches; ar }“> I verily believe, hopping heavily to shake the twigs, and flush flying quarry, which is pursued and deftly captured.