NEW ZEALAND BIRDS ESSAY

Taranaki Daily News, 30 April 1934, Page 2

NEW ZEALAND BIRDS ESSAY

NEW PLYMOUTH BOY WINS. PUPIL OF CENTRAL SCHOOL. First prize for the Dominion for an essay on New Zealand birds offered to school children by Messrs. John Dickinson and CO. Ltd., Wellington, was won by Robert Hunt, aged 10, a pupil of the fifth standard at the Central School, New Plymouth. He received a boy’s bicycle. Though there was no age limit on the entrants, age was taken into consideration when making the awards. Hunt’s essay was as follows:— Of all the world's feathered songsters the New Zealand tui is Obe of the sweetest. As he darts among the tree-tops, gracefully poising here and there on some leafy branch, bursts of joyous notes fall liquidly through the air, and clear bell-like calls answer from other parts of the bush. Sometimes a tui appears to be going through all the motions of singing without a sound coming forth, but he really is making soft, far-away sounds which have been named his “Whisper Song.” Perhaps the notes of the tui are more varied than the songs of any other, native bird. Not only is the tui a sweet singer but also a great mimic, and many a lay was it taught by the ancient Maori who kept it captive. Indeed, Of all the wild birds bom to the vastness of forest homes, none is more easily tamed. The feathers of the tui are glossy, greenish black. Around the neck is a collar of white or grey streaks, while two white tufts of curly feathers adorn the throat. Through these the tui receives the name of “Parson Bird.” Although only a little bigger than the well-known blackbird, the tui’s nest seems larger than one would expect. Such an untidy little home it is, too, made of decayed leaves, moss, hair, fine roots and even pine needles, all twined together in the bird’s own wonderful way. When her nest is completely finished, the mother tui lays four or five pinkish-white eggs in it. The newlyhatched birds are slaty-black with a light patch on the breast. There are numerous light grey feathers around the neck, but these darken as the bird grows older.

Tuis feed on berries, nectar and insects. Often when the . kowhai buds show Signs of opening, the tuis visit the tree every day until the yellow blossoms appear, whereupon the birds gaily turn upside down, swinging until their beaks can find the rich sweet honey, while at the same time their heads become covered with soft yellow pollen. By feeding in this manner the tui is of great use to the forest, for while he quietly sips the honey, he carries the pollen from one flower to another, thus helping .to form good seed. New Zealands native birds seemed to be planned by Nature to fertilise the New Zealand trees in this way. With the coining of the White settlor, thousands of tuis gradually disappeared. The Maoris used to say that the white man’s bees were the cause of this, for when the ■ birds thrust their long slit tongues deep down for the honey, the bees stung them and the birds died. The native birds also help to distribute the seed by sipping away all the luscious berry and dropping the seed on to the ground, where it often grows.. By devouring the insects, the tui saves us from many a pest, which, if not checked, would soon infest every crack and cranny, eating up all the young green shoots. My home in Taranaki is built on the site Of old Pukiekie Pa with the wild flax still growing, trails of sweet honeysuckle lingering on the old pa walls and the golden kowhais in the spring. One of my chief joys is the bird-life I have learnt to love and watch for—the tuis most of all. They come each year with the opening of the kowhai biOoms and the sticky flax flowers. On his return from abroad, Mr. Frank Milner, of the Waitaki Boys’ High School, spoke to us all. He asked us to treasure our remaining patches of native bush about our towns, and, above all, the beautiful songs of the tui. He had listened to the English nightingale, the lyre bird of Australia, and air the famous song-birds of the world, but his heart had thrilled anew when he returned to New Zealand and .heard the . tuis again. Apart from its usefulness in the forest, the tui is a God-given musician to be proud of.