VANDALS AMONG THE BIRDS.

Press, Volume LV, Issue 16412, 4 January 1919, Page 9

VANDALS AMONG THE BIRDS.

10 THB EDITOR OF "THI PRKSS." Sir, —For many years prior to 1900 a colony of white-fronted terns nested on. the shingle ridge at the mouth of the Rakaia. They were, however, so often disturbed by people taking their eggs and shooting' tho old birds that they forsook their-old nesting site and went upstream to nest. _ For fifteen years they nested on shinglo spits up the river, but the yellow lupins have spread and covered all the good high shingle upstream, and "three years ago the birds returned to the mouth. . . There, on tho narrow Btnp of shingle, between the lagoon and the sea, exposed to every wind that blows, these beautiful little birds lay their eggs on the bare shingle and rear their young. Situated as it- u», under half a mile fiom the fishing huts, this colony adds ""lcti to the interest of the spot, for the birds are very tame, and will let one app ro ~ within a few yards of them as they fiit> on their nests. They may be seen boning in the lagoon or sunning themselves on the banks, with a ceaseless stream or birds returning from the sea with a solitary fish held in the bill for a young one or a sitting mate. And last week some indescribable vandals went down and shot a lot probably from what I know oif I sucn low skunks, firing into a ? f . ting birds, and then going off and ing their handiwork to disgust e cent-minded person who sees it- i«e dead birds are lying scattered n*J the wounded dying of starvrit , deprived of. their power of they cannot obtain any food. . , The law protects these birds, providing penalties for taking or d ® stro £ ing the birds, their aeste,. young, and if anvone _will gi^? e retary of the Acclimatisation Society or mysoif information that. w --JnU wo detection of these may see that they get their. Thankinc you in anticipivVwirs ing publicity to STEAD. *' "llam," Upper Riecarton, Januaiy 3rd, 1919.