WAR ON PUKEKO

Te Awamutu Courier, Volume 62, Issue 4427, 19 May 1941, Page 4

WAR ON PUKEKO

A THOUGHTLESS PERSECUTION. RIGHT TO LIVE IN NATIVE COUNTRY. Members of the Forest and Bird Protection Society are asking for a stoppage of the persecution of the pukeko, the beautiful bird which is also known as the swamp-hen. It is claimed, with good reason, that the pukeko has the right to live in its native country. In 1928-29, at the request of the Forest and Bird Protection Society, the Department of Internal Affairs conducted' a stomach survey of the pukeko in localities of the Manawatu, North Canterbury, Otago, and Southland districts. Altogether, 63 birds were examined, and the results showed that their diet was not one to cause worry to farmers or sportsmen. The contents of the stomachs were usually macerated vegetation and seeds of grass and weeds. In Cheviot, (North Canterbury, where pukeko were alleged to be causing damage to stacks, four were killed, but no grain was found inside them. Similarly, ten birds taken in the vicinity of cropping areas in Otago had no grass in their stomachs. Two, shot in an oat-field of Southland, had stalks and heads of weeds and other vegetation in their stomachs, but no oats were seen.