THE IMPORTANCE OF THE WEKA.

Forest and Bird, Issue 16, 1 November 1928, Page 7

THE IMPORTANCE OF THE WEKA.

E. V. Sanderson.

The weka is considered by those who have given the matter study and careful observation to be one, if not the most important, of our indigenous birds that attend to the destruction and therefore control of pests inhabiting the ground. Careful tests of this bird’s habits will demonstrate how extremely active he is in destroying snails, wood lice, and all manner of pests. With his strong beak he is able to turn over quite large pieces of wood and debris in order to gain access to the concealed food, while in the forests his destruction of rats is thus praised by such a competent observer as Guthrie-Smith who writes: “It is to such species as the crows, the robins, the tits, the warblers, the thrushes, the saddleback, the bush-creeper, the yellowhead, the whitehead, the wrens, the tui, the bell-bird, the pigeon, and the parrakeets that the presence of the weka is an unmixed boon. If they still continue to survive it is to his ceaseless vigilance, his policing of the woods, his eternal patrol of them by day and night, that we owe their lives; and these species, we may say, he watches without reward. From other kinds aided in the struggle for life, such as rails, ducks, pukeko, possibly, and from the fern-bird and groundlark, certainly he does take his toll. It is a tribute levied fit and fair, and the merest fraction of what is robbed by rats; a mere nominal fee, in fact, charged for life insurance. The larger kinds of birds, such as kiwis, hawk, falcon, etc., under normal conditions watch their eggs too carefully to give the weka a chance. If in any way his presence in the woods affects these birds it is to ensure a high degree of faithful incubation. To them he is a tonic against sloth and carelessness. If, then, in New Zealand any serious interest ever comes to be taken in our native birds, the most efficient method of preserving the smaller tree-breeding species lies in the propagation of the weka. Of all the birds that deserve our care he comes foremost, and assistance withheld from him is help denied to half the indigenous birds of New Zealand.” Where opossums have been introduced it is difficult to see how this very valuable bird can be re-established as the traps set to catch these imported fur-bearing animals must sooner or later prove fatal to such an inquisitive bird as the weka. Many people assert that the weka is more than an equal match for the weasel if he gets first hold, and reports state that in the western Nelson district wekas have evolved the idea of attacking these pests in pairs and are thus increasing, while on Kapiti sanctuary the rat appears to have adopted a system of working in mobs, possibly with a view of combating the weka’s activities. Whether such is the case or not rats appear to be

gaining an upper hand, and the contents of the nests of many birds are reported by the curator as having from time to time been destroyed. Careful examination of the stomach contents of these rats and of the omnivorous opossum by scientists cornpent to do so should determine which is the evil doer. The weka when present in numbers was declared war upon by some Acclimatisation Societies owing to his liking for eggs, but here again research should have preceded action in the face of the fact that other indigenous ground nesting birds had not been exterminated but had prospered, while a recent case was the nesting of a mateless hen pheasant on an island where wekas were present in large numbers. The bird laid over a dozen eggs, and the nest was not molested. Surely then, as has been mentioned by Guthrie-Smith, the function of the weka, as shewn in this case, is to destroy the eggs of those birds which do not faithfully attend to their incubation duties. There is yet much further room for experiment and observation with a view of the re-estab-lishment of such a desirable bird as the weka, but unfortunately those in authority are not keen to carry out much work in this direction owing to the necessary cost even though the results might prove of inestimable value to our own welfare.