WONDERS OF THE WILD

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 998, 13 December 1910, Page 6

WONDERS OF THE WILD

A ROAD-MAKING BIRD, KAKAPO THE PARROT. (By Will Lawson.) [AH Rights Reserved.] l In the late.winter twilight the South*' ern Alps towered, in mantles of snowy whiteness. Far below these icy peaks, - yet high above sea level, a little valley snuggled in' between steep hills. The snow floor-of the valley was almost level. , What stream gushed there in the summer was frozen and covered with snowBut here and there large undulations showed, as though tho snow had drifted lliere-was a mildness in the air that toW of coming spring, the snap of winter was not so keen, and there -were rain clouds - not far distant. As darkness gathered,'from a.hole in one of the snow-undulations,, a fiercelooking, head, with two bright eyes, was thrust, and, presently there emerged the body of a strange-looking bird. Round' the eyes were radiating feathers like those, about tho eyes of an owl, and there were black, hairy feathers about the beak, like cat's whiskers. It was these emblems of the night-prowler which gave the bird .its wild-looking appear- ??° e '-n ,- , slze !t is about th o same as the Lnghsh raven, and of a mottledgreen colour. nlwl» ap °D Sat s °l em ?'y a ' 'he door of his »S" \ P^ esmtl y tejw a call-half-grunt; half scream-which brought from another opening a second bird, tho mate ot-Kakapo, She came towards him over the snow, walking with the parrots nau-' !Slr SWl n? ; ?, he w , alkei clumsily; yet swiftly Together the pair went lightly bu d:,, although possessed of large win"s eleven inches from shoulder to tip aw so poorly equipped as regards wing. - muscles that they cannot flv. They followed tracks already made "that evenin" by others of thei.- kind, for Kakapo is an expert road-maker, be it over snow or grassy hills, and, like tho Romans, he - .always prefers the high. ground,. and rarely turns aside. '; ■ A !? ft ,4. ri , zzle Pi'«sently began to fall, and the Kakapos were turning back to shelter when a burst of eerie laughter rang' ; out. Ha-ha.! ha-ha! It was the wild cry o? the Laughing Owl. A pair of : them skimmed close overhead, silent aa '' ghosts, but Kakapo was not afraid of Whekau, and he screamed harshly 'in answer to the flitting shadows. Another' burst of laughter followed .as the pair 1 , passed on to seek their supper of beetles' '"' that hide, under the rocks on steep faces where the snow did not lie. Kakapo and) his mate, soon reached shelter, beneath -those wave-like undulations in the snow - which , covered a domain-in which wa9 '* warmth and food and good company The short thick scrub of silver pine and ake-ake in the valley being too dense to allow the-snow to. fall between its branches had been snowed under as by the. laying of a thick and heavy blanket over it. The space beneath was comfortable and roomy, and there was enough vegetable weeds, androots- to last tho Kakapos through ■ the winter. There were passages and tunnels' -' air through the shelter, made by intelligent birds, yet each bird had "a! separate lair. ; -, Soon there began to. be indications of ■ ' the near approach of spring. The snow' ' ( began to melt, the sun was hot at midday, and, though a night-bird by habit, kakapo and his mato and sometimes some companions, - would choose a sunny corner, in the rocks and bask all day. - And, when the sun dipped westward,' they climbed with beaks and claws soma ■low scrub, and sat solemnly on the topmost twigs to get the last of : the sunshine. ■ . .- , Tho birds-wore very fat after their winter spent amid warmth and food, and very sluggish in the- sunshine, awakening to their full activity only in tho evenings,; when they cleared up all — their old trails and began the layingout of new-ones. The-economical point' about Kakapo as.a road-maker is that he eats, most of. the grass and roots' he removes—he has an enormous appetite and --capacity ■ for ~ vcpetable' food. They leave their burrows beneath the snow, when the snow showed signs of disappearing,-, and. - the melting, of it mads. the. place, wet, and go instead to homes - among the rocks—tunnels. and crevices running into the hillside, and terminating in snug quarters. After sunset Kakapo and his mate came'out to feed, and since the snow had now gone from the lower slopes and ridges, they set out ' cm a long night prowl. They went by "walks," eight to fourteen inches wide, ■ which have sometimes been mistaken ■for paths made by human feet. Kakapo went first, his silent mate following at some distance. He went slowly, feeding in the young moss and young grass, and ... pecking at,every root or twig that was ' iii the way. His mate also' removed anything that disordered the road, even unruly blades of grass that, had escaped Kakapo's attention. And so, the Kakapo tracks over miles of hillside were kept in order by scores • of Kakapos. Suddenly across the stillness broke again Whekau, the Laughing Owl. . -The parrots. - took no notice of tha owls, but went on steadily waddling along their tracks and feeding as they went, and a shadow followed that was neither, theirs' or. Whekau's;. a shadow that was the. loni, lithe form of a weasel! It crept nearer the birds, and then made a sudden dash at Kakapo's mate, .with'intent to disable her by a tearing bite where the leg muscles join the body. But the bird's wide eye saw the movement.',.. She turned her powerful beak to meet the ~ attack, and tho weasel drew back from a vicious peck between its eyes. Kakapo: rushed back, and a battle-royal, ensued; in .which the weasel was routed for the time, at least. The birds walked warily, for some time, suspecting some trickery,but" the attack was. not resumed. They went so far that night thai it was soon. , apparent that they could not reach home, again before daylight unless- they ran all the way. There was no need for that, though'Kakapo can run'well, considering his build, when occasion demands it. There was a. burrow ho knew of riot far off, and towards this he turned, arriving at the'place, a hole among the roots of a "rotting tree, at about dawn. His mate at once retired, as becanis one! who had been but all night. Kakapo, however, climbed heavily, his crop bein&r crammed with several ounces of finely ' chewed grass and moss, to the branch of a fuschia tree, and was toying with ; tho leaves . when,. ir.. the pale daylight, . something moved away in the scrub, and suddenly there came tho flash and report of a gun. Bafore the sound reached? him, Kakano had thrown himself to tho ground, quickly, without opening hiswings. Then he ran very mu.ch as a' . fowl runs to the refuge in the treeroots. A dog followed, and fought and tore at the roots, trying to force a pas- , sago after. the terrified bird. But the . tree-roots held • him off, and after . a long time the man went away, and whistled his dog to follow him. That night Kakano and his mato returned to their mountain home. Here they made their nesting place, and reared their young, away from all the dangers of man's ruthlessness, away in a remote place, where Whekau. the Laughing. OwL. cooees across tho valleys or bursts into loud guffaws, and the rain-bird cnea eerily as it makes its night journeys'between its mountain nest and the sea, ■