THE "GOOD ENDEAVOUR." LEAGUE

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 10, Issue 57, 2 December 1946, Page 6

THE "GOOD ENDEAVOUR." LEAGUE

What ho, what ho,, ma hearties. Whew! Have T been crowded out lately? There’s been so many Maoris over here on Whale Island hunting mutton birds that I’ve hardly known what to do with myself. I was expecting a few callers, but apparently none of them spotted my cave, for none came to visit me. But things, have not been so quiet for the pets. Oh dear no! Butch only just succeeded in escaping with his life in fact. He was prowling up the side of the hill when he suddenly came upon an empty mutton bird hole (so he tells me). Now Butch has always had a very inquisitive nature, and so of course he could not resist having a look down inside. He crawled in, and was just turning round to come out again when suddenly he was grabbed by the tail and hauled out backwards. “Py Korrie. Funny looking mutton bird this,” said a voice. , “Never mind. He’ll be 0.K.” “Blast my bilges!” said Butch. The Maori was so astonished that he let Butch’s tail go, and the next minute my pet parrot was apparently going just as fast as his short legs, aided by his wings, could carry him. He was lucky the Maori did not bother to chase him, or he might have been turned into a tender meal. (Personally I don’t think Butdl would make a very good meal at all, he’d be too tough). But that wasn’t all. Butinskl had a close shave too. All the goats on the Island during the early part of this week were being chased all over the place, and dodging Maoris right and left. Butinsky went out to take a wander one afternoon, and didn’t come back till • late at night. He was all out of breath and shaking all over. Do you know sailros that he’had been chased up and down the big hill thirty-six times? No wonder he was out of breath. Anyway, the muttofT bird hunters have all gone-'back to the mainland now and peace has descended on Whale Island once more. Cheerio for this week. P.T.W..

LAST WEEK’S COMPETITION NO CQRRECT ENTRIES Ho-ho-ho. I thought I’d catch some of you out with last week’s competition, but I didn’t guess I’d get the lot. Only one ticket is awarded this week to the sailor with the nearest correct entry. This goes to Patricia Wells. Congratulations lassie. The correct answers were as un,der: — . 1. Rudyard Kipling wrote the Jungle Books. 2. A Cygnet is a young swan. 3. Peanuts grow under the ground. 4. Red and Blue mixed make purple. 5; An elephant Trumpets. f 6. Skylarks build their nests on •• the ground. 7. The emblem of South Africa is the Springbok. 8. Paddle steamers do not have propellors. They usually have either one or two paddle wheels .. NEXT WEEK’S COMPETITION BOOKS AND* AUTHORS Now sailors, you’ve all read those little paragraphs which contain the names of strange books and authors. We had some printed in the page a short time ago. They usually read something like this : ‘The Boxer’ by I. Knockem Flat; or ‘Che Cliff’ by Eileen Dover. Now what I want you to do. is. to see if you can either make up - some of your own, or find some new onesi somewhere and send in to me. Free tickets go to the sailors sending in the best and funniest list. P.T.W. WORK, Underneath the burning sun There is always something to be done, Washing and scrubbing But not rub-a-clubbing, Underneath the stove On top of the cupboard, There is always something to do, But not rub-a-dubbing. Original—Patricia Wells. (Three points to Patricia).

v FOR YOUNG READERS ONLY

Aboard for the Goodwill Cruise

PETER THE WHALER (/whale jsland

ARE THEY COLOUR-BLIND? Our domestic pets, the dog and cat, can’t tell red from green or blue from yellow. The only mammals that have colour vision are the apes and monkeys. And the reason why they manage to distinguish between different colours is probably that their way. of living makes colour perception necessary, and as a result processes have furnished their retinas with colour receptors. It is the need for colour vision that determines whether an animal has the receptors for colour reception or not. The mammals which live on the ground, the wolf and the horse, for instance, find little use for colour vision in their circumscribed' needs. The sense of smell is their chief sense receptor, and vision and hearing are ly poorly developed. The need for colour vision, however, is very acute with other groups of animals. Thus we find that colour perception is well developed in fish, in amphibians like alligators and turtles, and in reptiles, including all varieties of snakes. These creatures depend for their food and their safety to an inordinate degree upon their ability to see and distinguish between different colours.

The silent shark, stealing through Southern waters, looks like a grey shadow. But fish, assisted by a keen sense of smell and fairly good colour perception, are aware of the marauder and speed away 'like a flash of light. Snakes, too, depend a great deal for food upon their keen colour perception, and sense of smell. They have to be able to distinguish between the variously coloured creatures op the ground. Good Colour Perception

Closest to man in keenness of colour vision come birds. The common sparrow, the robin, the lark, the swallow and a host of other birds not only distinguish between the four primary colours of yellow, blue, red and green, but have a range of colour vision that takes in a thousand different hues and shades. Hopping from limb to limb, and generally living in a forest environment in which there is a profusion of colour, birds have to have good colour perception if they are to survive. , ’

Development of the sense receptors is directly related to the environment and the life activities of animals. In man the two senses best developed are vision and hearing. These are both distance receptors and man’s life is built around them. It is different with animals.

The creatures living in the water, the amphibians and some reptiles depend upon the sense of smell as their chief distance receptor. Vision is fairly good, but hearing is almost totally absent. As far as is known, the gold fish has the best hearing among fish. The acuteness of hearing in a gold fish is about oneeleventh that of man. ■ The turtle « and the common snake, including the rattler, can’t hear a thing. The birds living for the most part in the air have almost no sense of smell. Most, of the higher developed birds we know cannot smell at all. On the other hand, their hearing is fair, and their sight is good. Among mammals, the dog and the guinea pig, for instance, >have better hearing than man. Their sense of smell is also very highly developed, but their vision is rather poor. Thus it seems a superiority in one sense goes with inferiority in another. Only in man are all the senses fairly well developed.