HOSTS OF PETRELS.

Waikato Times, Volume 110, Issue 18521, 29 December 1931, Page 3

HOSTS OF PETRELS.

LIKE SWARMS OF BEES. BIRDB OFF STEWART ISLAND. C) “One of the sights of the bird \'>rld i» to see the petrels coming in at dusk on Solomon Island. The air is absolutely full of them—they are Ilk* swarms of bees —and from any point of vantage a quarter of a million birds can lie seen in the sky at one momen'.,” said Mr E. F. Stead, interviewed by the Press, Christchurch, after his return from a May of live weaks on the island, which is off the southwest point of Stewart Island. With him in the party had beon Major R. A. Wilson, of Bulls, and for part of the time Sir John llunham and Mr E. Ilay, of Pigeon Bay. To go there Mr Sla»d had chartered the schooner Britannia from Bluff, taking two days in fair weather to make Die journey, though when Mr Ilay went down he was at sc-tv ten days.

The main purpose of his stay on the island was to observe the bird Life there, to see what species wero to be found, amt in particular lo note Hie habits of the six kinds of petrels which had their nesU on the island, said Mr Stead. The family of petrels included a great number of different types of birds, from the little stormy peirol —:io'i- so big as a blackbird—lo the wandering and royal albatross, with •.lie biggest wing-spread of all bird*. Mutton-birds were also grouped with ;i;n petrels, ami belonged to a jubfjtnily of tlie shear-waters. Flights of 200 Miles. Very little bad been done In the sUdy of petrels, mainly because of the difficulty of observing them. The smaller ones wero nocturnal on land, nesting in burrows, wandering as far as 200 miles from the 'coast during the day in search of food, and coming ashore only after dark at varying hours, many of them not arriving before midnight. They nested in burrows, and on coming ashore spent a few hours either with their mate or changing places with her on the nest while she went to sea, and leaving the land again before daybreak.

Mutton-birds were the commonest nr lh« petrels on Solomon Island, and though their young were taken every year ,to the number of more than a quarter of a million, the birds were there actually in millions. Mr Stead identified the different species of petrel which nested on the island, and there were doubtless others that lie did not see or hear. A Deafening Noise. ‘‘The birds are most strongly vocal, so much so that the noise is trying when you want to go to sleep,” he went on. ‘‘There Is practically no neisa until they settle, for the muttonbird does not call when In flight, probably not one in a thousand makes any sound on the wing, but Just when they are leaving for sea there is a terrific noise. A gannet rookery makes,, a subdued murmuring compared with the petrels when landing. On the day before I left I was wakened at 3.in a.m. by the mutton-birds preparing to go, and there was such a noise that I had to strain my cars before I could discover that my companions, seven feet away, were shouting at each other to make themselves heard. ‘‘On these particular Islands the land birds are absolutley as they were before they were visited by white men. It is amazing to see 'birds that aro nearly extinct on tho mainland just as common as ever. One day I saw in a small tree 20 yards from our hut saddleba'cks, robins, tills, a mokl-moki and a yellow-breasted parakeet, while a weka grubbed about in tho fern below. A robin with a nest close by used to come regularly into tho huts for 'crumbs, or when we were chopping wood was always on tho lookout for grubs. It was Impossible lo go anywhere, and stop for 20 seconds, without ono of these littlo fellows—grey, with a yellowish breast —putting in an appearance to see if thero was any wood about. | Dangor from Cats and Rata, ‘‘lt Is droadful to think—in view of the wide variety of bird life there—that by the least carelessness rats or aits may get on to those Islands, for their presence moans the absolute extermination of all land birds. You oan tell as soon as you get near an island, by tho number of birds seen or heard, whether cither cats or rats have 1 am introduced. What happens Is that rata get on to the Island and lnterfero with tho multon-bh'dlng—l believe that they cat tho chicks whon they are very small —and then tho muttonbirders Introduce cals to deal with tho rats. That is tho death-knell of overy land bird In the place. At or.e island we went to we were greeted by dead silence.”

Both fur and hair seals wero seen by Mr Stead, though not in any great numbers. 11c saw ono catching a largo fish, biting It hard, shaking off In turn the pieces on either side of 1:1s mouth, swallowing what remained, and then rolling over to dive for the rest. He watched this from 30 ft away, and found that In general the seals wero tame and confiding. There ware no traces of old sealing occupation on tho Island, though a groat deal of it used to bo done thero. The party had occupied vrey comfortable quarters —tho vory best of tbe mutton-birders’ huts —lent them by Mr W. Loader. The general arrangements had been made by Mr J. Morrison, of Bluff.