PUKEKO

Forest and Bird, Issue 148, 1 May 1963, Page 18

PUKEKO

Our August leading article has drawn reports from observers in many parts of New Zealand, very briefly summarised in the following as fairly as possible. Canterbury. Several correspondents deplore the disappearance of the pukeko or a heavy reduction in its populations over recent years. Manawatu. Now rare in many parts. It is possible to travel 50-60 miles without seeing one. Hastings. Counts taken in one area each year for four years were as follows 1957, 37; 1960, 23; 1961, 14; 1962, 7. Kaitaia. Quite plentiful 30 years ago, now rarely seen. Writer admits that on occasions when land was cultivated near raupo swamps the birds could be destructive if their populations were high. Nevertheless he finds it distressing to compare bird populations of 50 years ago with those of today. West Coast (Rotokohu). Still plentiful near swampy areas. No fear of extermination there as they. are not popular table birds; seldom shot unless they damage crops, which they can do. (Writer is most emphatic that paradise ducks should be totally protected in his area.) Reef ton. Fairly well established; shooters not really interested in them; few now shot. (Paradise ducks not strongly established but there are flocks. The writer understands they are strongly established in the Maruia Valley). Cheviot. Up to five years ago there were plenty of pukeko, now none to be seen. Writer offers to contribute funds towards any effort to .obtain complete protection. Waipukurau. Fairly numerous; people don’t go in for killing them much. Writer had on one occasion seen a pukeko despoil a duck’s nest. Mauriceville-Alfredton. Ten years ago pukeko were common; now much reduced mainly because of suitable habitat disappearing. Writer adds that they are just holding their own at the Hokowhitu lagoon, Palmerston North. Raetihi. Correspondent on farm with eight dams or dew ponds of recent origin. No pukeko ever seen there now. (Paradise duck

on increase; up to 10 seen at a time in a 20-acre paddock; no visible damage done by them. Four ponds always have young ducks on them). Opotiki. One correspondent writes that pukeko were once plentiful but are now rarely seen. (About a dozen paradise ducks known). Another correspondent says that at Waiotahi Valley pukeko are still plentiful where land has not been cleared or drained. Some damage is recorded, to maize and tomatoes. Dannevirke. Waitahora valley: 50-60 pukekos present and holding their own. Kaitoki Lake Reserve: No shooting; 20-30 pukeko holding their own. Tiratu: A number still present. Okarae: There were pukeko years ago, but never seen now. Our Dannevirke Section considers that pukeko are steadily decreasing, and members consider it is time the bird had a spell. Our correspondents are in general agreement on important points. As Guthrie Smith said, pukeko can be a trial round the kitchen garden or on cultivated plots. It is necessary therefore for farmers to have permission to deal with birds causing them trouble. Elsewhere the bird is greatly admired, an entertaining, beautiful creature now much reduced in numbers in some areas and apparently extinct in others. This is partly because of shooting but undoubtedly the loss of natural habitat also is a potent factor in the decreases. Many of our correspondents consider it wrong for this fine bird to be persecuted by shooters, especially in areas where their numbers are now low. One correspondent, a well known Bay of Plenty observer, puts it in the following terms: “I don’t see why, at this date, so-called sportsmen should be entitled to perpetuate a primitive hunting instinct derived from savage humanity. An element of sadism is present and this makes the thing still more barbarous.” With regard to the charge that pukeko rob duck’s nests, this is summed up by one correspondent who says “someone should point out to these people that before they and their band of predators arrived in this fair land nature had achieved a harmonious balance with- pukeko and grey duck in large numbers. Surely if anyone has

done injury to the grey duck it is those responsible for the introduction of the mallard.”

We welcome the decision of the Wellington Acclimatisation Society, as reported in the press, to recommend that pukeko be removed from the shooting list next season. This is a very proper decision and a step in the right direction.

The Migration of Birds, by Jean Dorst. London, William Heinemann, 1962. xix, 476 p., maps, bibliog. N.Z. price, 50s. ... i ' The fly-leaf information describes .this book. as the most comprehensive study of bird migration ever published, and states that in its approach and documentation it is likely to appeal as much to amateur ornitholo'gists, as to readers expert in the field. I doubt very much whether the general reader or lay nature lover will agree since, in my Opinion, this is more a textbook for the serious student and must prove “heavy going” to others. Dr. Jean Dorst is a director of the French Natural History Musem, and in this survey he covers the subject from the early theories on migration to be found in the Bible and in the works of Aristotle, up to the results of present-day research. He gives a completely new view of the reasons for migration and the different forms it takes; this has been evolved through the co-operation of bird stations all over the world, and the introduction of new and scientific methods —-from ringing to —has offered results more nearly conclusive than the mixture of myth and imagination which formerly shrouded the subject. After dealing with old explanations of bird migrations the author develops his work by proceeding through methods of studying this phenomenon and its occurrence in both hemispheres and in different regions. There are chapters on hibernation, invasions, the physiological stimulus which triggers off migration, and the orientation of migratory birds, concluding with a discourse on the origin and evolution of migration. That part of the book which deals with New Zealand will be found in Chapter 5, “Migrations in the Southern Hemisphere,” pp. 148-154, although the -principal emphasis is on the more insular species. By way of comparison Australia receives only four pages of text in the same chapter but, of course, examples from both countries are given in other places, e.g., “Sea-bird Migrations”, , Chapter 7. Since the dawn of history man has been fascinated by the disappearance and return of birds, and has invented countless legends and theories to account for them. In the past fifty years significant strides have been made towards solving these mysteries; but what we have learned about orientation, the physiology, of the migratory- impulse, and the fundamental causes of migration, are still, as the author puts it, “like a few guide posts planted in an almost virgin forest.” Dr. Dorst’s book at least brings the picture up to date. . The excellent charts and diagrams, and the very full bibliography makes this. a valuable book of . reference, , at least to . the serious student of ornithology. ' J.H.S.