NATURE NOTES.

Waikato Times, Volume 117, Issue 19597, 8 June 1935, Page 16 (Supplement)

NATURE NOTES.

OUT FOR A STROLL. On any tine morning I see a family of friendly quail strutting about on the lawn looking for their breakfast. Grace Johnson (12). THE HARVEST. One day I planted one marrow seed In my garden and you could hardly credit what I got otr it. One morning when I looked at it It was all withered. The frost had killed It, so I collected the marrows from It and counted them. There were 26 and there must have been more than that on the plant altogether, because we had eaten a good few. —Shirley Stock (11). THE PENGUIN'S CHICKS. The penguin’s nest Is not lined with anything soft and warm and the two eggs, which are about the size of a goose egg, have to be shielded from the ley cold by being enclosed in a deep fold In the penguin’s' thick feathers. When hatched the penguin chicks are little balls of sooty down and they wear their baby clothes for some weeks before oxchanging them for a suit of feathers. Lewis McMillan (13). TUIS AT WORK AND PLAY. It Is an Interesting sight to watch a party of tuis clinging and swinging in all kinds or comical poses as they hunt through a tree of native flowers for honey. Every few minutes, too, they will fly to a neighbouring bough and gladden the rorest with a Joyful song. Their flight Is rapid and graceful and the motion or their wings can be clearly heard. They delight In sporting together high up In the air. Ten or a dozen of. them will turn, twist, throw somersaults, drops from a height with extended wings and tails and perrorm all . kinds or antics, till suddenly,, as if at a , given signal, they all swoop down Into the , forest and are lost to view. —Joan McMillan (12).

Nature Notes may be copied, hut must be marked “ oopied " whep sent In.

A BIRD PARTY. To-day I saw a number of Blight Eye* on our apple tree. Some were hanging upside dowrr, while others were feeding each other.. They were eating the insects out or the moss. There also were Yellow Hammers, Sparrows, a Blackbird and 8 Thrusb. —Jean Edgar (12). CROCODILES. Some of these fearful but Interesting creatures are always on view lir the large water enclosure in the Reptile House at the zoo. They are round In India and Africa, whilst alligators (near relatives of too crocodile) are mostly Inhabitants of North and Central America. Althougfc such ugly and gruesome-looking monsters, a crocodile tamer will go in the midst ol a large number without showing the slightest fears, it is possible to tame these mH? tu £ es u , ntll tbey become almost, If not quite harmless. (Copied.) Beverley Vemall (12). THE CHRISTMAS TREE. The Christmas tree (Metrosideroi tomentosa) is known to many people ai the Pohutukawa. A handsome tree, someheight, with spreading branches, the Pohutukawa rarely grows rar from the sea or an Inland lake In the Auckland province, it finds a foothold In jorts ,? r Impossible looking places: often it clings to the side of a cliff, atrnnV,llß" lonß- MVlSted TOOtS tO I rocky wall, or hangs from the top of • bank with its branches almost dipping into the sea below. Sometimes oysters may be fsobered from these pendent branches. When growing on level ground great bonnes or red, fibrous rootlets may occas’onafly be seen hanging from the houghs, , J?^,^ ea i Ve < 3 are ? ne t 0 *bree Inches long, green, hairy and variable In shape. Th< ar° a W oL 3 „? r V brlllJant scarlet; the petal! are small; the stamens are one to one ant a-half inches long and scarlet in colour The timber Is extremely hard and durable —Dorothy Hlgglnson (15).