DEADLY DEAT WAVE

Taranaki Daily News, 9 March 1932, Page 11

DEADLY DEAT WAVE

EFFECT IN QUEENSLAND. NUMEROUS BIRDS KILLED. The effect of the recent heat wave on bird life on a station in Queensland is described by a bird observer in a letter to Mr N. W. Cayley, a member of the Zoological Society of New South Wales. The letter was written i-fpm Ruthven

Station, Isisford, where it was said that 1 th® temperature of the coolest spot in < the house was well over 110 degrees. 1 Birds of all kinds died in thousands. : The largest death rate was among 1 crimson chats, firetails and magpies, al- 1 though budgerigars, which, as a rule, do not seem to mind the heat, died in great s numbers. They fluttered into the rooms s in droves. The occupants tried to revive s as many as possible by spraying them 1 with water from the waterbags and giv- 5 ing them cold water from a spoon; but < the death, rate was appalling. A pathetic jl

feature was that young birds, evidently coaxed from the nest before they could fly, simply baked on the ground. Those able to fly sought shelter under the galvanised roofs of the outbuildings, which made their plight even worse. Natural shade on the open country was scarce. The stone on the ground became so hot as to burn through a boot or shoe. Hundreds of birds perished in the bore drains. They flew straight into the water wherever a tree cast a shadow over it, only to meet their end in almost boiling water.

K J ■- CORNS NIPPED RIGHT OUT. “Nipsem’’ for corns has ,been specially prepared for treating those particularly bad corns that ache all day long. Just apply with the glass rod in the cork and the worst corn will yield immediately. The pain goes—foot ease results —and in two days the corn may be lifted out with the fingers. “Nipsem” nips out corns. Painless and reliable. All chemists and stores, 2/«. 2