ZOO NOTES.

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 1954, 10 January 1914, Page 6

ZOO NOTES.

BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS.

INTERESTING F\CTS

V;;. . Welliiigto 1

I In lluvgr-Minds of-thi,-Zoo. recently' } I^wafeiiitrodai'edfito'iPfaMcr^ just come- do'.vn. from his. farm.-in tho country..-,. "o'u, ; I rknow;." 'lie, said, ',T ■ roa 11 *>Sotf Notc% i -gentle:;; 'man lep.'ving business in : Welling-ton,-and-was going..t<i live, ouMand- in the coiuit^%die' ; riiet^neJiiy'tii^iity'anii' said, "1 . wanted. to t<-<v.yo*u "lic-l'oro; I Vtha t3l;?liif>hly.;-apr; preciatoJyour.iZoo/.vNot.esijf.theySaro very'Notes again '". 'eried tiie. irea-iurec- of my cietyjJa^fe««'driysfago^t4Wliat;is; : Hho matter how ?^;?i?askcd>.^," i Ohi',£ , a-,'deUer.' from Notes oto.' eagerly?.; watchedf or-jf lip"..there.' '■ ."Who is that promising- littlo fiye-year-"o](.i '/v boy' ,: -'-iiiore. £"5 of 1 ' tho ? readers .Nptes^:^:k]i& ; o : |JrfceenX; : '[Mkuig?s ; T' , " u I i f aeo> ; somo': money 1 for tho' Zoological:-. Society," said ■ a"; venerable, gentleman, t-p. me,an'thestreet,'not- long ago, and he-'handed fivV shillings; to. mc; : ■i'l see'that'tho.Zoological Socicty,.wants. £lo.*niore,:'.fsaid a gentleman'.the other dnv, and ho secretly sent it along to-Mr. Castle, the treasurer of our . society: That is 'as it' should be. : Lyn juveniles aiitl -.venerable".seniors,'". men coming. from their farms,''and men going to their farms, men interested in the State schools,', arid "'men interested: in, Sunday schools, city nicn. nnd families in smaller towns, 'fanners'and .".back-block '.woodsmen,' all should' read..-.'..'Z00..: Notes.' 1 -Let us then>all agree,that- inns one of tho great purposes.of:-,''Zoo.Notes!.' shall be answered—the"purpose popularise honesty .of; stndy..with' scrupulous care-fulness.rofpobs-ervatioa.':;""'One.-. ..of the preat'calsses ! -.of?.trouble in :i tlns world is indulgence-in hasty .jumpinsafc conclusions'. ./'On#.of ...t-lib.. great' benefits of sccintiiio study., is. to', check such indulgence. :" ; tiong. ago.:;!., exposed some. mistakes that liasty writers on sea lions had' made; "and,,l : .;'corr'ect-ed/th© suggestion that ;.'monkevs- i 'K that ■ live with kindly mates ; waste'tiieir-tinie,,in, hunting imag-iiwry'-'fleas'-or.-.other parasites:where no sensible"* monkey;: could -/.fiver think ■ : 1 of finding ; -such'i : things/^'ln'niy;next, para-, graph there' will .be noticeable; some more exposures' of ;tlio;.folly. of hastily ising>frpm< thoircsijltsvof casual ooson - : S^>Many Lessons. * '•I"think'* that "the. jiiimbeT- of / students ■that would contend that the "Wellington ■Zoo. is not 'of- much ; value as an.edne.a-/ tion'al institution' is growing smaller by degrees-. and beautifully less. ■■■.Yet, to silence detractors,whose influence holds the usefulness of the Zoo.■ in check, I must keep on tolling lia\v ill© Zoo. couk* ■ and'■ should be utilised, for. educational purposes.'■ I could direct attention .to a 'wonderful chain of living foims connecting tho animals''of very . remote ages with-" the animals- or.to-uay. ■ I couic. direct" attention to a wonderful gamut of. living musical instruments connecting the sounds of-primeval forests with results-of. evolution «inu training of the latest domesticated songI'irds. ",I. - lessons , in fcathcrsj/icssons''in teeth,;'lessons m iieads," lessons' in,-;tails, lessons in feet, lessons*in, f hands,-;'.'.lessons-.) m. history.lessoiisrin geography and lessons in other subiectsMon numerous to. ho mentioned here 1 ; 'all- of ' which /a. .".'.studious teacher ■could' amply' illustrate, - ; with natural illustrations.'from the Zoo'.- -And when I mention the Zoo X mean the whole ot Newtown- Park, for, altiiough I do notwant.:,, to ,>co -the whoto ot tho p?,rk . exclusively , used tor /.on. purposes;'the birds in the outer part of the park should be regarded as though they iwcyoi.m- th 0. . 1200. j . ; and should jq f protected aiid'increased and stucncdac-1 eordinglv. , Hearing this m mind then | we direct attention to birds , nests. 1 10 , most, simple, of-all. the-nests in tho world is," 1 : perhaps, tho nest of tho ostrich.''"Tho ostrich _which, by the. by, wo remark is tho biggest bird ahvo in tlie : world to-dav, simply makes a shallow, indentation in tho ground and lays her in: t"ho. liollow. It hfls bcfiJi said tfiat the ostrich is a very siil.y, careless, stupid, indolent bird, that lays its c i,iT s on tho ground, leaves tho eggs to/ .bo? hatched ■by ..the sun, and tho young ostriches to be reared by tnein--selves, and,...when pursued, thrusts its head into,t.lio sand aiid blindly waits to, be .killed.-Hat such teaching is not Keiicrally accepted. Instead ot it sonio tcacliers. have tauglit that the ostrich lays.its eggs in a cavity in tho ground, buries tho eggs a, foot deep in the sand, and "leaves:,-them that the young ostriches', ""may. be hatched by; the sun with the sand as a natural incubator. Faithful and Sagacious. ■

ft.l, however, from all that I have read, infer that'the-ostrich .is a very powerful, rather:wary bird, that in defence, and sometimes in attack, kicks with, force sufficient- to break the log of a man or kill a jackal or a tiger cat; and that it is so faithful and sagacious and ■ methodical that although everywhere it makes only a very simple and primitive kind of west," it . uaroiuHy watches its eggs and adapts its methods of incubation to the.climatic conditions prevalent where the eggs aro laid. That in some places, the hens that lay their eggs in a common nest take turns at sitting in the daytime is probable, and that -in some parts the male sits during tho whole oftlie night is eeitain.' It may bo that in some places the eggs are left ■ exposed, or lightly covcrate 1 withi'sand, •• during the, daytime, and -.that tho female takes a turn at sitting., to relieve the male at night, no have it- on good authority that on a South African ostrich farm, where,the ostriches are paired, tho hen sits dur/ing' nearly the. whole of the dajtiino and tho male during the whole of tho «i"ht, But what wo have read about ostriches proves the importance of very close - and prolonged observation and careful ■study. There is a fine pair oi voung ostriches in our- Zoo. They were obtained from the Helvetia Ostrich Company by the Right Hon. Mr. Massey and' Mr- R> A. Wright, and placed in the Z-00. per tho Wellington Zoological Society.' Tho magnificent birds aro not yet. old enough to nest.- But should, the 1 -ostriches nest and successfully incubate'in our Zoo., ■ students must'ever remember that the results of observations in one part of the world must not, be taken as indicative of tho habits.; of 'ostriches, oven, of .the. same species;• in;other parts.y-.y..-.-A Martyr. ■■ The nest of - the rhea is just as primitive an that' of the African ostrich. Tho hen that is in our Zoo. has laid several' eggs. One year when she had white bird as hcr-.nint-o she laid v'eood nest-full of eggs,-and the male sat on them. In fact, so assiduously did ho'sit that on a very hot day he died a martyr just whc-ix the young iiirds had reached tho hatching point. After ho died a male of another colour was * obtained from Australia; but although the hen has laid an egg or two siuce then, there has been no incubation by either of the rhcas. Another lowly nest is that of the flamingo, Tho flamingoes in our Zoo havo not nc-sted. 13ut l am told that tho flamingo builds' a nest of mud on the ground. This should set the student- n thinking for the flamingo is said to be an aberrant'- stork,- awl the only member of. the houso of-..storks tliafc builds a mud nest." It is remarkable that.:,while the.'white stork likes to build its-nest ■with', sticks, twigs, strong reeds,;, dry herbs,"moss; and down, ".on. the.: tops-.of high ok! lowers,'or in the' branches of lofty .-trees,-tho flamingo, . which is a i>«oa "flior/i builds -.of. mud and;, 00. the ground.