NATURE—AND MAN.

Waikato Times, Volume 113, Issue 18927, 22 April 1933, Page 3

NATURE—AND MAN.

PLEASURE OF STUDY. V - WAYS OF VARIOUS BIRDS. (Leo Fanning.) Ordinarily the black-backed gull does not look an amiable subject foi a pet. It Is certainly handsome, bill has a cold, hard, greedy eye, and it worries some of the smaller seabirds in their nesting colonies. Yet even the "black-back" has its softer side and oan become fond of friendly folk. Sir Walter Buller mentions in his “Birds of New Zealand” that he obtained a young seagull from a nesl and kept it in his garden for more than five years. "The most remarkable phase of character it developed, he wrote, "was the romantic attachment it formed for a large black-and-white Newfoundland dog. For more than two years it had enjoyed the constant companionship of a tame skua, and seemed then to be perfectly happy; but on the death of the latter the seagull moped for a time and then fixed her affections or ’Crusoe’ in a very unmistakable way Whenever the dog appeared on the lawn the bird would run to meet him with loud clamour, and dance round him with every expression of delight when the dog had coiled • himself tc rest the bird would peck him all ovei in a loving way with its hill, and finally nestle down beside him or ever squat upon his soft coat, and if disturbed would utter a long squealing note as if in mild protest.” Sir Walter has described the common harsh cry of the black-baokec gull as a “laugh,” but it" Is not a melodious one. “I do not think,’ he said, “it has ever been recorded yet that the seagull has a natural love for music. I have seen a tame one ir a settler's garden run up to the house as soon as the children commenoec their morning practice on the piano enter at the open door, and stand ir the passage in a position of eagei attention. I was assured that this was an invariable habit, showing incontestably that the bird -was nol insensible to music. On one occasion long after dark, attracted by the strains of a lively waltz, it posted itself under the bay-window and began to scream as if in eager accompaniment." It Is recorded by Sir Walter that a publican at Whakatane -obtained a hen gull from White Island, a distance of 35 miles. "It became perfectly tame," the story runs, "answering to the name of ‘Hinemoa,’ and coming into the house at meal-times to be fed. When about two years old It suddenly disappeared, and after a lapse of six months It returned with two young ones, which have since become quite domesticated.” A Loving Pair of Black Shags. The blaok shag, muoh persecuted by gunmen, who accuse it of troutpoaching, is a likeable bird at home Mr Edgar Stead, author of “The Life Histories of New Zealand Birds," gives a pleasant picture of a matec pair of thesp cormorants. _ "During building and hatching operations,” he says, “the birds exhibit great affection for their mates. When a hen is sitting on the nest and her mate arrives she greets him with demonstrative devotion, rubbing her cheel aganst his and stroking his head anc neck with her bill, preening his feathers and generally making a fuss of him; while he Is obviously just as pleased as she is over their reunion returning her every caress. I wel remember watching a pair which were building in a ribbon-wood tree The hen sat on the half-finished nesl adjusting the material—pulling out a stick here and thrusting it more deeply there, or tidying and sorting some of the smaller twigs, apparently for the sake of something to do Presently her mate returned with £ piece of stick in his bill, and heavily with a great flapping of wings and a loud ’kau-kau-kau’ on the side of the nest, almost upsetting the whole thing. Now it was a very ordinary stick that he had‘'brought yet she received it with fervenl admiratiQn, running her bill along i and nipping it as if to test its soundness, then stroking the back of his head and neck as he bent down anc laid it at her feet. Evidently touched by her display, he stood beside hei awhile, intertwining his sinuous necii with hers, before flying off for more material, while she built the lasi piece into their home.” Courtship of White-fronted Tern. Many kinds of birds have evolvec remarkable habits of courtship. Mi Stead refers to a breeding haunt ol white-fronted terns at the mouth oJ the Rakaia River, Canterbury. In the spring some thousands assembh there and a spectacular courtship begins. Here is the chronicle of Mi Stead—- “ Uttering his monotonous call oi ‘crek’ at intervals of a few seconds a cock bird will come in from the sea carrying a small fish in his bill circle over the sitting birds, and perhaps settle with them, holding his head high and strutting and turning about as if to say, ‘Look what a gooc food-provider I am.’ - Almost immediately one or more hens will approach him with their necks stretched out. as if asking to be fed, when the codwill rise in the air, followed by his admirers, and fly until only one if following him, when he may settle and give her the fish; but not always for I have often seen a bird, perhaps disapproving of the looks of his pursuers, or disappointed with their powers of flight, settle on the ground again and eat the flsh himself Granted that he feeds the hen, the initial feeding over, the pair seem tc regard themselves as mated, anc thereafter indulge in what one mighl term ‘ecstasy flights,’ the mosl striking being one in which, the cocJi bird leading, they achieve a certain height, when lie will spread his wings at an angle above his back and san downwards in short, sweeping curves, first to the right and (lien to the left, the hen, close on his tail and with her wings similarly spread, following ills every movement. The effect is very beautiful, and when the birds alight again they run about together and around one another, heads raised and ‘crek-ing’ loudly, as if well pleased with themselves." i A Secret Aviary. Mr Stead’s keen study of native birds began when he was at a board-ing-school. "I got, a young morepork," lie wrote, “and kept it in niv desk. I fed it on meat or sniali birds, chlefty greenfinches, which I killed wilh my catapult. Partly on account of ils appearance and partly on account of Hie unfortunate stale into which ils food supplies sometimes got, my class-mates 'Christened il ‘Flyblown Shylock.’ As the bird grew I hired the next boy’s desk for my books for half-a-crown, and lie, having a head for high finance, hired

half the next boy's desk for Is 3d for his. 'When I opened the lid of my desk Shylock would snap his beak loudly. This is done when the birds are -either, angry or excited, for Shylock, long after he had lost all fear of me, would still sometimes snap his beak when I brought him food. I took him home in the Christmas holidays, and turned him loose in the garden, where he took up his abode in a large ivy-covered cabbage tree, coming out every evening just before dusk, when I called him for food. He was still there when I came home for my next holidays in May, but had lost much of his tameness, and he left the garden before September.” , Butchery of Godwlts. How much longer will pitiless gunmen offer weak excuses for their slaughter of migrating godwits? When will these brave fliers over the wild ocean be granted complete protection? Iler.e is a pathetio passage from Buller’s book — “I tis a common thing to see birds with a single leg, or with a broken or truncated bill. Captain Mair saw one with both legs shot away. It kept with the flock, supporting itself on the stumps of the tarsi when walking and crouching on the ground when at rest, but mainly using its wings for purposes of locomotion. The maimed and injured birds,, of which flock -contains many towards the close of the shooting season, habitually keep apart from the main flock, confining themselves to the high beach, and are known to sportsmen as the ‘sick brigade.’ ” Think of the heartless maimlngs of birds by so-called sportsmen since those words were written, half a century ago i Mrs P. Moncrieff, of Nelson, a wellknown worker for native birds, Is urging that Farewell Spit should be declared a sanctuary. That lonely headland is one of the places from which godwits begin their long flight to Siberia —as fact known, alas, by numbers of callous pot-liunters. it is a good recommendation, which deserves the strong support of the general public.