OUR BIRD LIFE.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 401, 9 January 1909, Page 13

OUR BIRD LIFE.

ITS ENVIRONMENT AND ENEMIES. STRANGE FEATURES IiND CHANGES. (BT R. 0. BITOOE.) h. ■ 1 The long-tailed cuokoo of. ( ~ffhloh Mr. Drum* mond' speaks is a bird •iiiiire]jr.: difforenfc to. tho "shining. 1 visitor typbi; Although an exceedingly shy bird,' a pair took up their quai-tors In some manuka.trees'quito oloso to -'•a : a wharc, and they pulled the young , sparrows ' -out :of theirnests. '".This gnvo rise to an extraordinary tumult amongst ail the sparrows in the vicinity. /Wo, who saw tho :■'■■■ ocourrfence, were' under the impression that. - / tho'' cuckoos cltevrcd tho young sparrows out • that 'they might lay their' own' eggs in tho nestß,vbut, from Mr. ; -Drummond's- desorip- - - . .tion, it would'appear that thoy were hauled ;.'v'oirt/to^eat; : :\ r -vv'

A Croat caiharlng of Owls.' ' ' . ' spakGri 'of my bGlief that soruo of ' . ow': birds/appear.'.to . bo migratory;, within ■ the . confines7of our islandsj/1 would., rolato tho : .following remarkable-incident.' . When I first • settled : hero.on' tho banks of. tho Turakina tho forest/■ ' :, 4, :and;had Vgoodoppofturiities; for-the "obfforvaV \-r:' tion of,bird life. my first winter^we r : :l : iad^inVco'tt|tfridti6nr- - 'witn;-; l fineVyoa'ther—^the; •'-■■ heaviest frosts 'which; I^have seen iin this locality: Upoii SCivml. of theso very cold ;' U 'iiights thoro werO 'conßrcgat'ed i(m my imine- . diato vioinity) hundxwlsiipcfhapa thousands, •; - of owls. ■•. I alwaysiiknew. when daylight was at hand by. tho cessation;■ oftheir:; music, Now, •• what; could possibly ..account; for this i'\ ; ; abnormal•• congregating of/'tfcoso birds?l ■ .:•• • have" ;neither. >seo& ■ lior'.heard L of anything .of • the kind sinco, but I havo a .vivid recollection • of tho manner in-which" the valley in the vicinity' .reverberated "- with..-''owl-songs.'', - I • • havo read recently' of • a very - .remarkablo , ,' ■ plaguo (if mice jn a.-Lowland: . district tof : ! s Scotland,' and' this, invasion^was'accompanied r by great numbers of owls. Whcro the mice - came from and whence tho oivls, (»ro questions • which : have never been: satisfactorily settled) ■ • - but: tho. ;wholorsubieot. in: many;,, somewhat' similar instances has '. frequently., 'furnished v naturaliste. with' mOBt iritci'esting fiolda for .•. investigation. Before tho creat. gathering of owls in my locality, we -had an .extraordinary invasion Evory tussookrofvco&rso : grass had its contingent,. and. a lady,,' who lived a wuplo of miles away, told mo that, : ■ although :sho had quito »,.-lot of cats, they had entirely ceased to hunt, and tho mice wero running unmolested overtho floor, apparently conscious of their, immtrpity.v; I have .recently noticed that much-: satisfaction -■ has ."■■•<■!'found expression -in.' gome quarters, regarding. the.-snccessful; introduction-r : 'A; a purposeof destroying ■ ithe 'graminivorous birds whioh :are ; generally supposed - to- hi so destructive - to. • farmers'. • > eropsif- But; lireTy much fear, if they have such powers of- destruction^as these with . which they havo been■■■ credited -in. Otago. That these varlika strangers may: prove even more deadly to some Of: our stn&ll native : birds, such, fftr instance, •as tlio beautifnl little fantail;/the - riro riro,, and even - the combative tui, dots not soem unlikely, l

The Areh Enemy of Birds. t ; .Sir Walter Duller ;• whs, in. consequence of, : his researches relating-to-the:birds.of New :y Zealand, has rendered. prioelees • service to tho - eountry,r was -etrthgly ; of? opinion that >; rats -• were. •by far tho- most, destructive ' enemies ef-our bird life.;; In: this connection : <' it : is: mtorcstmg to -to'- tvliat nn ex-, tent different habits areacquired -by .changes of environment. I ;bavo. never heard either ■■ from gamekeepers or, others that'- rats ; have ever been known to climb trees in the Mother . .. Country,- but hare-wo- know only too well, of; ' : ".their.'destructiven'ess'to birdlifein the bush. ;i!. ; >-;;ls''it : :possible' :that''-tliisr'miiy/be/.-attoibiitable' to- habits of climbing,, jnto .ships' figging at fW ' them with'mußhirequi^dimoisture. ; - There' is-at'-present--at: Homo, rather, an.iinterestmg - movement i hoaded by the . eminent . , physician .Sir James, Cnchton ;Browne, iwhich for its object xhe .extermination of rats:' It :1s alleged l^tlw v niuch-to-be-commehded society that-at thp rate'of ; -thereVmns.t:^exist in .Britain ; fifty Millions or rats, whoso annual keep' would; be not less than 7s. fid, ettch, or-about . :a farthing-ner day. . This estimato (and it is probably, a low one), would mean a loss to the ,"i ,natioh. ; 6f■. fifteen, millions a year through rats. No ■ doubt tho eminent physician: who heads '• tho; movement also.: approachestho : '. jucstion from, a sanitary point of view. In *i. the Weekly London^'Timc9 ''. of 21 , I read that tho Rat Law of Denmark, under Av- :i ?iwHicK^theyis 'ft/systematici, "dcstniction of j /'rodents." at . municipal: . depots .mnhicipal ; •i, ■;payments; for has f proved' ■: highly successful. So also have: the systeni- • atic,campaigns of: extermination organised at.Sintervah by. administrative action in -Ger-, man J.

Strange V/a\!s of Rats. ! -To my-view ■ the rat's greatest crime .is his ' destruction of bird life, and. I would hope to 'J;; -sea; societies : such.: as • those; indicated, estabT lished. in New: Zealand. Prom "y arns "- that '.. I haye.heard when, at sea, I believ® that ..tho . rat.is probably the most cunning'of animals,, - .. but. of, tho. following incident j I was in. eyfrwitness. In a voyage "which I took to the ;*: s'uth'ard our 'ship was : dreadfully> infested. ; with. 1 rats, and' as the -weather had scarcely; v ever been cold tho orew had gone barefooted '< - for many; months. ■ During that time tho; akm on the boles of their feet had become ; 4.iquite thiclj and somewhat 'df,;'the;coiisistehcy ( >; : ofleather. ,- Whon■. lying : . asleep' on - thoir . bunks, the rats quietly gnawed all tho hard O skin ■ from the feet of j the • sleepers, and ionly, in- one instanco -was blood' slightly'- drawn, r •; Amongst'tliey'bld'/soafarrafc . .. . days tho belief tliat ratshad ;bcen ;knowii 'to leave ships before' bomg-lost or burned was . ~, one which was seldom called into question, and, I-have«heard from them some really-in-'- : terestiijg yarns bearing referonoe to. this sub- , ject.., I frequently heard it. alleged that' im-' mediately leaving the, Liverpool i dock : Bpoir/her; last disastrous j voyagei; tho.. : rats left the Sovereign of the Seas in a body in broad ;' daylight.: -This ship was burned, and the story of her abandonment by the fats I had, 1 -'.v..-; amojigßt ' OtHers ) ' from an eye-witiie3S.' ' 'When sailing 011 tho- great Amorican takeß in tho seventies, we had,-ono night, such a fierce -< that'; 'ships - weTo ;lestl : .'• A schooner was lying at Tandnsky, and in the . afternoon an old salt, one, of ner crew, saw • a , T a ,t: E°ing- ashore on one of the hawsers which made her fast. The old sailor at once ,r, . T ' .^ n .%that, night/: she, foundered with • ?. Jl aI V] s °P, kake-Erie. -.Itihas- btenalleged . in .Scotland, that. lats. havo been .known to lea-re a mill the ,night beforoit was burned. ; maiiy;.who i will loftily,dismiss all- ,; V V Bucir theories as absolutely inadmissablo, but' y..on':thcso,matters'l would merely,adopt the '4tWudff ; :<)f -as Yl:' ha*e'arrived at tho. belief, that in all,probability there are . laws, or directing influences operating around ns and of which wo live in ignorance. Thoso mayreally control happenings which wo . commonly tako, to bo products of blind chance. 1

Curious Chango In Starlings. ■: "P» starling s ?nio to Australasia from his British;-homo; .withan- excellent roputatiou. ;•; It was believed '.to; be' purely jhscctivorous, ;: Md: was' spoken of -as' the "faffim' friend,'/ .; But: we, read, that In some parts oT\ Australia ':' ; ? ri2l t-growmg has bccome almost impossible , -. m-consequence. ofv.the of 'these ; onco well-niannered birds-.; ' And under all the circumstances 1 of tho. ; ease;'. it' appears . still inoro" extraordinary that, within tho last ten / years, starlings 'in the mother country .should - . have, adopted-' the : predatory 'habits <of • their Australian cousins. Again, in tho British . islands, weasels have, never beon known: to . climb trees iir pursuit of their prey, but I -: - recently; mot - a -yotuip; lady in Dimedm who lives in the'Mackcnzio country, and she told , : me : that; .somoivhero in her 'district; they •have ..boon,,iMm entailing . pigeons in the forest;; I miEht hero remark en passant that Bhe; ; fthat/'in sonic locality in ;' the, Soiith; Island l-3vhore i.she.., was -.visiting, pigeons were exceedingly numerous,: and tho "sportsmen.'-'—tho "g»nio - hogs" of .; ex- . President Cleveland—after filling their hags; .continued tho slaughter, allowing, the poor murdered ,birds j to lie on tho ground, where tW fell. Is it not possible ■ for: lovers of X:]f ;;:' f.- ; .. ■ i

naturo in- Now : Zealand to , prevent tho of ; these oharming and innocent birds, which are amongst tho most beautiful of G-od'« creatures; Cone.for Everi Ths Skylark. • , ■ ■ Ono most noticeablo feature of our bird 'lifeis-the cessation of tho song of the, English skylark, 4 :whoBo :swe'et. and thrilling notes I have not heard for . many years.v When I settled ... lioro, - thoso song-birds ttcro extremely numerous in tho open country,, arid they; soared quite as high and poured forth iquito as sweet;,a "volumo of song .as the (British kindred from which they had 'sprung. It is allegod tlmt in cor.senucnoo of the, ad-' mixture with tho ground larlt of Now Zealand we hftvo now in.place of one of tho greatest ■of song-birds, a mute hybrid, to whom the oxqnisitoly beautiful linen of Hogg, in his •address to tho .skylark, would unfortunately have now no applications— ~- . ...( ... "Bird of tho. wildorncsSj blithfisomo and otiiaberless, ' _ . Sweet be thy matin, o'er moorland, and lea; 'Emblem of happiness,: blest is thy dwelling- . place, _ ■■ Ohj to abide, in tho desert with thoo I"