Bell-Birds Disturbed

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 610, 12 March 1929, Page 8

Bell-Birds Disturbed

Rowdy Excursionists at Motuihi

AUCKLAND’S rowdy holiday-makers on the new marine park, Motuihi Island, have so disturbed the bell-bird colony there that Te Akarana Maori Association has been prompted to protest to the Minister of Internal Affairs in an endeavour to protect native birds which are already becoming rare.

fact that the bell-birds will most probably dwindle through the sudden contact with rowdy holi-day-makers is not the only danger. Government officials, realising that a serious effort should be made to protect New Zealand’s most beautiful songsters, had a notion to take part at least of the Motuihi coloney to Waipoua kauri forest. Several excellent reasons have made Te Akarana Association oppose this suggestion, although it is now understood

that the idea is not likely to come to anything. First, the association states, Waipoua forest, a comparatively remote area, would probably have attracted refuge-seeking bell-birds had its natural conditions been suitable. The bell-bird is essentially a honey-eater, and Waipoua is singularly lacking in honey plants. Flax flowers, for instance, are a staple source of food for the birds, but flax plants and kauri trees do not grow well together. So Motuihi’s bell-birds will have to risk the disturbing hand of civilisation, unless a more suitable home is found for them. Less known islands in the Hauraki Gulf may yet present possibilities. Not many years ago, in the 20tb century, in fact, someone discovered that bell-birds were dwindling at an alarming rate. Since then frantic efforts have been made to stem the serious effect civilisation has had on natural life.

Huias are probably extinct; tuis, kiwis and bell-birds have all faltered before the harsh tide of civilisation. In reservations and remote backcountry districts they can be found, and in some parts they are comparatively plentiful; but only in the sanctuaries have they a guarantee of security. It Is the same with lessknown and smaller birds. Stuffed, unblinking and sorry-look-ing reminders of the glory of New Zealand’s former bird life stare out of glass cases in the museums of the country. It. Is all a pitiful history. Yet it

is interesting, for the complete absence of dangerous animal life for century upon century permitted strange developments in New Zealand’s birds. Many became ground creatures, without the necessity for flight. But the arrival of the white man meant the arrival of weasels, cats and dogs, which became wild. There was devastating slaughter, it has not ended yet. How the kakapo, that interesting ground parrot, suffered is an example of the destruction. When the nature-loving Maoris and the races before them in Aotearoa, the Moriori and the Mouriuri, held sway, the birds were scarcely troubled. Untold areas of bush fastnesses were theirs, and the natives took scarcely greater toll of the natural life than was essential for their existence. Matter-of-fact Saxon civilisation has provided a different problem. When the history of the Saxon race is written in its entirety, there will be a wealth of evidence of inexplicable destruction of natural life. The hard element in the temperament of the average European is apt to go unchecked until the brink of realisation of the damage done is reached. New Zealanders have reached that: brink. Responsive chords in the j minds of those who can appreciate j inviolate nature have been touched, and most moves these days toward preserving natural life can be assured of support. Te Akarana Association’s action to save Motuihii’s beli-birds is an example. It is interesting to reflect that a colony of such birds has thrived within sight of the busy city of Auckland. Indeed, Motuihi lately has hardly offered the birds sufficient food supplies, so greatly have they increased in numbers. VIRTUALLY A SANCTUARY As a quarantine station, with the buildings located on a detached corner of the Island, Motuihi was virtually a sanctuary. But the birds are not considered able to withstand the clamourings of thousands of happy city people on holiday excursions. It is a far cry from the silence of the bush to the strumming of the new ukulele, or the sound of a battery of family gramophones. Kapiti Island, off the south-west coast of the North Island, and Little Barrier (Hauturu) Island, in the Gulf of Hauraki, are New Zealand’s best sanctuaries. They are serving their purpose well, although the public hardly appreciates their uses. Possibly, some of Motuihi’s bell-birds will find their way to the quiet haven of Little Barrier. Little Barrier, proudly aloof from the mainland, is not without its black patch in history. When the Government originally grasped the proposal to make the island a sanctuary, it took steps to remove a small settlement of harmless Maoris whose ancestors had lived there for an age. A hand of men went out to Little Barrier one day and brusquely transported the natives to the mainland. This method of changing the home of these inoffensive natives has since been severely criticised. So Little Barrier stands now as an ideal sanctuary* Whether Motuihi’s disturbed colony of bell-birds will take its place with Hauturu’s feathered Inhabitants remains to be seen.