TO-DAY’S NATURE NOTE

Dominion, Volume 28, Issue 98, 19 January 1935, Page 6

TO-DAY’S NATURE NOTE

School of Tamed Eels When visiting Takaka recently we were surprised to have confirmed what had sounded like a real “fish story.” After a three and a half mile walk from the township to the banks of the Anatoki River we were rewarded by being given a demonstration of what can be done in the way of taming eels. Our guide gave a flick of the fingers on the surface of the water, and one eel, a great-grandfather from the look of it, was there waiting to bo fed and made a fuss of. This one, which lives just where wo were standing, after having its head stroked, was fed with meat and blancmange. The former was taken from the fingers and the latter from a spoon. A few more flicks of the fingers at short intervals and more eels could be seen coming up the river from the direction of a small fall some forty or fifty feet away. Altogether five more arrived in the course of a few minutes. We wore told that at times 11 came up. One of the new arrivals was almost as big as the first one, but the others were much smaller, two of them being only about a foot long and very thin. They all had their share of the food, taking it from anyone who offered it. The first one, which has been coming up to be fed for over 16 years, is very jealous of the others and tries to drive them away.— M. L. (Wellington). The Nature Note prize this week is awarded to Mrs. H. 11. Townsend, Stuckey Street, Levin, for Her contribiilion, “Wasps’ Fight for a Spiller,” published yesterday. lllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllilllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll