IN TOUCH WITH NATURE

Star (Christchurch), Issue 9674, 16 October 1909, Page 8

IN TOUCH WITH NATURE

NOTES ON NATURAL HISTORY 1 IN NEW ZEALAND. , (By JAMES DRUMMOND, F.L.S., -. F.Z.S.) . Mr, Elsdon Best states <hat the " moTepork " owl was believed by the Maoris to give warnings of danger. It was supposed :■ that* if a Hostile party approached, the '" ruru," as the Maoris called it, - cried- .out .' in the evening, " Kou 1 kou 1 whero ! whero ! whero 1" The notes were interpreted ad representing: " Arise and fly l 'By fleeing you escape the enemy, who assault the empty hamletj". There was a saying amongst the Maoris: "The cry of the ruru is 'Kou.! kou!' If answered by a person, it replies 'Kou! kou!' It will reply again ' Kou ! kou V But at the third or fourth cry it will cease to reply." At Te Purenga, Rua^oki, in the Bay" of ; Plenty district, tWre is a belief i,hat two albino " moreporks,-' called Kahu. and Kau, give signs as to whether the seasons are likely to be prblifio or not. They are endowed with supernatural powers. If a person belonging to the district goes -to the forest and takes birds and bones them for potting, and the two- albino owls appear, it is a JMgn that there will be a -frurfcf til season. If- the owls do not appear when the first bird has been boned there will be a lean season, and the fowler having read tlie signs, returns. Mr Best adds a note on the mythical origin of the kiwi and other birds. ■ It • Beems that Tangaroa-akiu-akiu was the offspring of the god Tan.garoa, and had seven children. The firct was Nqho-tuniiitumu, "Stumpsitter," the origin of the kawau, ot shag; the next was Moe-tahuna, "Sleeper on Sandbanks/ the origin and personification of the duck; then came. Haere-«,waawa, " Gully-rakeri" the origin of the kiwi; then Turuki, apparently a personified form of moulting birds; then Hakauai, which was believed to be a bird heard, only at night in former times, and known to some tribes as hokioi., The last two were. Tu-te-wehiwehi and Tu-te-wanawana, who were the origin of lizards. Dealing -with the branching nikau, Mr Best says : — " A branching toi, or Cordyline ihdivisa, is, I think, a rare thing. At any rate, I have not seen one in the Ruatoki district. A fine specimen of the toi stands beside the Taumata-miere trail, at KotoTe-niii, I have often admired it as I rode along the trail, its leaves being eight inches in width. Some time ago a soulless ruffian of the local aborigines cut off -the top of this fine tree, in order to provide a partial meal for himself. On my last trip-through the gulch I noted that several heads had formed on the mutilated crown, showing a vigorous growth. It will be of interest to observe whether or not these will develop into so many branches." A correspondent- states that the wrybilled plover, which is the only bird in the world known to have its bill turned io one side, is slowly disappearing from the North Canterbury district. A few years ago it was abundant. It usually appeared about the first week in Sep- f tember, at "the v same time as the dotterels, and it lived and nested in the same localities as they favour. The peculiarity in the shape of. the wrybilled plover's, bill has puzzled ■ many ornithologists. Sir Walter Buller and other investigators have supplied a theory based on utilitarian grounds. They suggest that the bent bul gives the bird special' facilities in regard to obtaining food supplies. "I have.noticed on the river-beds, after a fresh," my # correspondent says, "the parks of 'their feet on the sand around pools, but I could not find any marks to show that their bills had been used sideWays. They breed and make an apology for a nest on the shingle, the same as the dotterels, but are much more wary, are harder to approach, and- fly , much quicker. They soon disappear after the breeding season is'bvei*. Formerly .they returned each year about the same time. Last year, . however, I could not find any, and it is the same this year. Have any of your correspondents noted their absence, and do they know where the birds go to in the winter?" ' , Mr J. W. Murdoch, of Half-moori Bay ; Stewart Island, is seeking information in regard to the breeding habits of the kaka. H© wants to know if kakas breed twice a year. He says that he has found .their nests, containing both eggs .and young, in April, and he ia certain that in Stewart Island they breed from the end of March to the beginning of May each year. On the West Coast; however, he nas found ' kakas' eggs in January. Mr V. Phillips, of Kaitoke, in the North Island, states, that there is no dpubt that the "morepork" attacks birds. Last June, he says, about five ! o'clock in. the evening, his brother, while going across some paddocks, bad his attention drawn to a peculiar noise j in a huge white pine. From a hole in the tree there suddenly issued a black ball of feathers, which fell to the ground. Examination showed that itjtas a "morepork" with a starling clasped, in its claws. When the owl was interfered with, it flew slowly away, and settled on\a stump close by. The starling soon recovered and took to i sll^&WS? 1 v * *^ 6 "^ was . on ** aS>a*n-

two chains away and settled down to eat it, but the starring was again rescued and finally escaped. I , *' ; ir Mr H. Carse, of Kaiaka, Mangonui, in the north of Auckland district, supplies a note which illustrates the ingenuity of a quail. 'In the spring, two years ago, while he was cutting blackberries, h© accidentally uncovered a quail's nest with about a dozen eggs in it. ..He was afraid that the female would desert the nest, and to give her a chance' he stopped cutting at that place. Next flay he- looked at "tho nest again. To his great surprise, he found that she had not only,, remained faithful to her trust, but had built a c'ome-. shaped cover over the nest to shade it from the sun. The dome was made of the stiff culms of cocksfoot and " wiwi," with softer grass and moss intertwined. On the shady side there was an entrance. Within a week the young quail were hatched. Mr Carse saya that he would be. glad to know if such cleverness has been noticed in the quail before. f ; : " When I first visited this part of the country, nearly thirty years ago," writes a correspondent- in Patea, " though it was virgin bush, with only occasional Maori clearings in the river, there were no kiwis and i;ew wekaa. About twenty years ago I noticed the call of a. kiwi. Now there are thousands of these birds. All through the bush there are signs of them everywhere, and their call can be "heard every night. Dogs kill them, and they are sometimes burned in bush fireei. Still they are plentiful, but I have fonnd only four or five nests with eggs." '