NATIVE BIRDS.

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2385, 15 February 1915, Page 7

NATIVE BIRDS.

A NATURALIST IN" NELSON • sSEMfIRKABLE PICTURES?OF-BIBO> LIFE. Mr.. X Dtrmmncmd, of Christchurch, .Who lias published several works on natural history in New Zealand, and who contributes articlos on that subject to several newspapers in the Dominion, returned to Wellington on. Saturday ifrom an interestiug visit to the interior *af the; Nelson province. ,

Ho weut specially to become better {acquainted with tho habits of the great •kiwi—the miners', roa-roa, and thesci•eiitists' .Apteoyx Haasti—and of the weka, or wood-hen. He was the guest ->of Mr. R. E. Clouston, of Roskville■Mr. F. Sparrow, of Takaka, another ■ardent lover of birds, was the third member.of the party. They drove in from Boskville to the edge of the for-, camped in a deserted hut- during - the Eight, and at. daybreak next day sset out with a pack-horse along a bush Hrack for the Gonland Downs, which •were reached lat-e in the\afternoon. ■'There .they occupied a hut erected by. .shepherds. Making it their headquari.ters,', .they inspected a large, ■ part of ■-the country, and Mr. Drummond, with Hho help of Messrs. Clouston and Spar-. ,iow, found many opportunities for makVing notes on animal life. In an interview with, a representor ;tiva ofThe Dominion . last night, Mr. Drummond said that he was surprised beyond measure at the numbers of wekas that, make the Gonland Downs their home. 'They showed absolutely no fear ctf either dog or man. They came about the hut in £cores, freely en-, tering the door and picking up crumbs or any bright objects on the floor that attracted their attention. In. this respect they became a positive nuisance. When the members of the party returned to the hut after a day's tramp they usually found , that several of these birds ' bail crept through, a small space below tho door and had helped themselves to usorne of the provisions. Then shrill • cries resounded all night long, and at all times of the;' day they seemed to .spring from almost every tussock. Kiwis ; also are present in astonishingly large numbers. They make their Glomes in caves in limestone rocks, and are neither seen nor heard during the day, but at night their loud, rattling, booming cries, more like the roar of a mammal than the note of a bird, ring •out. with startling clearness in the general silence that settles over the downs. In all; directions their footprints, were seen on the muddy bottoms of pools, and also the holes made by their Jong bills as they searched for igigantic earth-worms.. The downs aire about 6000 acres in area, arid Mr. Drummond estimates, ifrom the observations made in the parts 'he covered, that they contain not-less »han 20,000 wekas,_ and, perhaps, 6000 t)r 7000' kiwis.. Adjacent to the downs -there are vast stretches of; level and mountainous country, and as, presumably, these birds < are equally plentiful in those parts, their numbers are countless.

The downs are portion of the bed of an ancient glacier, which perhaps in the Pleistocene Period, sketched from the mountains northward -through , the valley of the Aorere and out to the present coast-line. The country has "been Tent into immense gorges; through 'which turbulent mountain streams run. •A reddish tussock,' . which apparently .neither sheep nor cattle mil eat, covjiers most of the land. It is'very poor. lin quality, almost worthless, in fact, •'for agricultural and-pastoral purposes, and Mr. Dmrnmond suggests that as it ds Crown land it should be declared a •sanctuary for native birds and plants. In . the pieces of forest there" are. many thousands of kakas, and also tuis, bell- ; birds, waiblers, fantails, wrens, owls', pigeons, and'othef native birds.' The altitude is. about 2500 feet. The plant life is sub-alpine in character. Most of . the flowers . are either white or yellow,.. including different species of veronica, hut several purplish flowers give a tinge of brighter colour. The scarlet mistletoe"" is\in bloom on the trees. There aTO vast communities of the suridem, or drosera, jvhich is credited wtthithe power of entrapping and devouring insects. -. All the streams contain crustaceans, and some contain .the. native trout or kokopu, and under stones on the ground and moss on the trees there are countless numbers of black ants.

Mr. Drummond describes the country as wonderfully wild and rugged, some of it having been broken up into great chasms, hidden by the growth of vegetation. It is seldom visited now, and in all .respects, he thinks, is a very, suitable place- for a sanctuary.