New Zealand Bird Stories-Wekas.

New Zealand Illustrated Magazine, 1 November 1900, Page 96

New Zealand Bird Stories- Wekas.

By Arthur P. Haeper,

Photos, taken in Auckland Museum by kind permission of Mr. Cheeseman.

r is a debated point amongst men who have spent much time in camp, and are close observers of the native birds, whether keas or wehas are the most entertaining. Personally I prefer not to give

an opinion in favour of one or the other, for I have found them equally amusing, and when camping alone, as I have often done, they have proved very acceptable mates, affording interesting subjects of study, and relieving the monotony of weeks of solitude. At nearly every camp one had one or a pair of these birds who would stay near the quarters as long as one was in the locality, and give good opportunity to study their habits. The tuelea is in every respect as curious and inquisitive as a kea, and in addition to this, is a most incorrigible thief. These birds will carry off everything eatable, or otherwise, which attracts their attention, so long as they can move it. They are omnivorous, and it is not exaggerating to say that they will swallow small uneatable articles as readily as scraps of food. I have often seen one of them swallow a copper pea-rifle cartridge case, and look as if he liked it. Except in breeding time they are solitary birds, generally inhabiting one locality for months together. From the time the male and female first pair they share equally in all the family oares and worries, taking turns to sit on the eggs until hatching is complete, and then vicing with one another in their efforts to feed the young offspring. While rearing their young, the parents deny themselves all kinds of food, and become very thin, carrying all savoury and unsavoury morsels to their fledglings. It is a ludicrous sight to see two fall grown birds wih one young one, jostling

each other in their eagerness to force some such choice morsel as a cartridge case, or bit of tobacco, on their little chick, which sits squeaking under a fern in a plaintive manner, as much as to say : " These old fools will be the death of me." The evident disappointment on the fond father's face is very comic when the protesting youngster refuses the tit-bit. He will pick it up when dropped, and offer it a second time, as much as to say : "So good, so good, now be a good boy and swallow it," and when the "good boy" drops it contemptuously on the ground again, the father looks round with a " did-you-ever-see-such-ingratitude " sort of look, and finally picks up the despised tit-bit and swallows it himself. If it is a piece of tobacco, he stands still and ponders, then looks side- ways first at the chick, and then at the world in general. " Humph — a funny taste that has," he seems to say, shaking his head as the tobacco burns his throat, and finally thinking, " Ah, well ! I suppose I have only myself to blame," he saunters off with a meditative air, until ho suddenly sees Mrs. Weka coming along, and toeka-like visits his wrath on her. When the time comes that the young ones have grown up to a fairly-supporting age, the cock bird dissolves the partnership. The mode of the dissolution depends on the locality; if it is a good place for food he promptly " raises Cain " in his domestic circle, and Mrs. Weka and the family have to go by the quickest route to new quarters, while he stays, probably for the rest of the year. If, on the other hand, the productiveness of the spot be poor, he simply walks away without saying adieu, in search of happier hunting grounds, and is seen no more by his wife and chicks. Of course after the departure of pater-

familias, Mrs. W. sometimes finds the cares of her family too much for her, especially if the family be a numerous one. For instance, when they have to be sheltered she is considerably upset by the persistent attempts of four or five large youngsters to get under her little wings at the same time, and she at once takes steps to reduce her responsibilities by driving away the male chicks, and only undertaking the care of the females. At first this causes trouble because the banished ones will not go without considerable protest, which takes the form of attacking their moi'e favoured sisters whenever opportunity offers and the mother is not on the lookout. It is very amusing

to watch the little mother running about, first trying to feed her daughters, and then chivying one of her sons who has ungallantly made an attack on his more favoured sister. The jealousy and antagonism shown to any bird or rat which trespasses on a weka's preserves is one of the bird's most useful attributes from a camper's point of view, as one's food is rarely attacked by rats when such a good guardian is at hand. It is a curious fact that once a toeka has taken up his quarters near a camp, he manages to hold his own against all comers, and in many cases I have seen quite a small bird drive a much larger one away after a short fight. I suppose the feeling that he has right on

his side gives power to his beak. Curiously enough, I have never seen a rat killed by one of these birds, but have often scon them chased savagely round and round tho tent. On one occasion I shot a rat with my pea-rifle as he was trying to niako a forciblo entry' into our flour bag, and, thinking it would bo a good test of our ivfika's modo of attacking a rat, we put tho carcase in a prominent position, tied to a long piece of cotton. When the bird came into the small clearing in front of tho tent, wo manipulated the cotton in such a manner that the rat appeared to be nibbling, as his head moved spasmodically from side to sido in response to our jerks.

Mr. Weica suddenly " spotted " his proy, and at once began to stalk it — head forward, body down — taking advantage of every bit of cover, in a way that would have put even the Boers to shame. After creeping and dodging to within a yard or two of the rat's body, he made a swift dart out and " dabbed " it furiously in the back, just one vicious peck, and then looked round proudly with a " got-him-that-time " expression. We didn't wish him to have too good an idea of hiß strength, so we gave the string another jerk, and at onco our friend was on the alert; he reared his head back and " dabbed " and pecked with his strong beak, drawing back each time, and putting

his whole weight into every thrust, as only a we ha can. The result was that even toe did not feel justified in playing any more tricks by pulling the string, for the remains of the

rat were in such a mutilated condition that any movement on its part would have at once shown a want of bona fides in the whole incident. In any case the intense pride with which our friend stalked off with the remains, head in air, was too fanny to spoil, especially as he kept treading on the drooping tail of his victim and tripping over it in his endeavours. Soon after we had established our little canvas and bark camp at this place, our bird protector entered into the bonds of matrimony. He gave us no notice, but we missed him one wet day, and feared that he had deserted us. However, next morning he was to be seen with his blushing bride as " proud as Punch," as he strutted about picking up the odd scraps which had accumulated round our abode during his absence. This pair gave us great amusement during their hatching operations. As already stated, these birds sit alternately when hatching their eggs, and as far as we could judge, their day was divided into watches, or shifts of four hours, or thereabouts. When the cock was doing his share, the hen would be " fossicking " about the camp for food, and during the many wet days that we had, there were plenty of opportunities of studying their habits. As soon as the male bird had completed his

shift of four hours or thereabouts, he would give his peculiar call, and his wife would at once rush off to relieve him ; she never allowed him to call twice, except on one occasion. We had given her a very nice tin full of oatmeal, kept for her especial benefit, and in the midst of her meal we heard Mr. Weka call: "Time's up— time's up" (or his equivalent for it). She, however, being hungry, began to gulp down the food, when he called again, much to her evident dismay. On her not responding to this second call, he appeared suddenly, and drove her off in great haste to her domestic duties, soon re-appearing, stretching and yawning, and looking at us as much as to say : " Well, they are her eggs, not mine !" When, however, the female called out that time was up, Mr Weka replied, or not, as it suited him, sometimes letting her sit half-an-hour beyond the proper time, and call out four or five times before he took any notice, or went to relieve her. I do not care to place too implicit stress on the reasoning power or intelligence of these or any other birds, but, personally, I believe them capable of a great deal. For instance, whether by chance or design, the male bird of this pair always so arranged his hatching duties as to be off duty during the two meals we had in camp— morning and evening — in consequence of which we

had to keep something for the good little hen as a reward £01* her laudable attention to her family and domestic duties.

Another insfcauce which this same cock gave of reasoning power was very notable. As already stated, he was very jealous of any intruder poaching on what he considered to be his exclusive domain. At this camp we had a tame New Zealand thrush, which would come up between our feet as we sat eating our meals with the plates on our knees. We fed him a great deal, and made much of him. This " riled " Mr Weka very considerably, and he would

charge the thrush and drive him off, even when within an arm's length of us. One day the thrush flew on to a branch of a tree, about four feet from the ground, and the weka kept making rushes and jumps to frighten him, but the thrush simply cocked his head on one side and said : " We all know you can't fly," and refused to move. At last the loeka went into the fevny undergrowth, and presently sauntered out in a casual way, looking round at the

weather and things in general, protending he did not know thoro was such a tiling in the world as a thrush. Suddenly down ho dropped, his legs still 1 and his wings flopped out helplessly, feigning death most cleverly. The thrush looked down hopped along his branch a little nearer, and looked again, and then, making up his mind not to take any further notice, ho commenced to whistle cheerfully. Mr IVa/ai siuv that his ruse to bring his prey within reach

had failed, so he got up and walked off So far this may seem to indicate considerable intelligence, but he spoilt it all by repeating the performance once or twice without any better result, thereby proving that his intellectual development was very weak, or else showing that he thought the thi'ush to be a bigger fool than he looked. However, whatever deduction may bo drawn from the incident, it was an interesting bit of bush life.