NATURE—AND MAN

Grey River Argus, 17 September 1937, Page 12

NATURE—AND MAN

Right National View A FAIR DEAL FOR POSTERITY. (Edited by Leo Fanning). What ever opinions New Zealand folk may have on Italian Fascism, they can agree on one tenet of the Mussolini creed which caught my eye the other day:— “The nation is not merely the sum total of living individuals nor the instrument of parties for their own ends, but an organisation comprising the unlimited series of generations of which the individuals are merely transient elements; it is the synthesis of all the material and non-material values of the race.” Well, friends, that has been the principal doctrine of the “Nature — and Man” articles during the past five years. New Zealand has suffered much in loss of natural capital—and will lose much more—because individuals have been allowed to act in a manner contrary to national welfare by the destruction,, of protective forests on high watersheds and by the sluicing away of fertile soil in gold-seek-ing operations. The chief result of the centennial celebrations should be a resolution to avoid anti-national blunders of the first century of settlement and to have a well-planned management of natural resources to assure a comfortable living for. a much larger population. That was the kind of thought which induced the Napier Chamber of Commerce to take action recently for the safeguarding of native forests on the high country above the Rangitaiki Plains. Recent statements and decisions of several Ministers of the Crown justify a hope that the Napier request will not be in vain. Every other Chamber of Commerce should be similarly alert and active for the saving of the soil from which the whole public gets its living.

FANTAILS AND WARBLERS. Watching with delight the busy, food-seeking of fantails and greywarblers in my garden this Spring, how heartily I wished —as many other New Zealanders must have done—that they were as numerous as common sparrows. Happily the dainty native insect-eaters are increasing in many localities. They are certainly adapting themselves to new conditions where the planting.operations of man are favourable. What a friendly charmer the fantail can be! “This fairy of the bush, however frail and fragile in appearance, is really a hardy little creature, and will weather storms that kill off some of the alien species in scores,” wrote H. Guthrie-Smith. “I have seen him hunting for flies in downpours of torrential rain, when the boles of the great pines were waterpipes, and from the patter and splash of the big drops a gritty mist arose throughout the forest undergrowth.” When rain makes the flies seek shelter, Mr. Fantail fossicks for them in crevices of bark and other hidingplaces. One wet day I watched a fantail making a keen investigation along the branches of a red-gum. The bird had the efficient peering eye of a warbler or a white-eye. The warbler enjoys digging out the luscious leaf-binding caterpillars which sparrows overlook. White-eyes also prey on those troublesome lurkers. THE GARDEN OF A DREAM. If one had the garden of one’s dreams, what beautiful sights tnere would be during many months of the year when lovable birds would be feasting on honeyed bloom or berries of shrubs and trees —tuis and bellbirds swinging oh the golden sprays of Kowhai or fluttering among the crimson canopies of pohutukawa or eucalyptus, goldfinches flashing their wings among the seed-heads of cosmos, fantails in acrobatic pursuit of flies! One of the prettiest spectacles I have seen was a white-eye sipping nectar from the long chalice of an abutilon . (commonly known as “Chinese lantern”). Well, such gardens are realities for some folk in New Plymouth, Wanganui, Nelson, Akaroa, Hutt Valley, Dunedin and other places.

MARVELLOUS FLIGHTS OF BIRDS.

Flights of land and sea-birds gain in interest the more one watches them. Birds are always giving fresh surprises with the clever uses of their wings and tails. The other day, when I was passing through a dense thicket of manuka in the Wellington Botanic Gardens, a thrush flew up, almost at my-meet. The bird ficked at full speed through the closely packed shrubs. The steering movements were done too quickly for the eye to catch them. It was the kind of feat to expect from a swallow, but it came easy to Mr. Thrush. CLIMATE HELPS THE ROCK WREN. A Fiordland note on the rock wren by H. Guthrie-Smith in “Sorrow and Joys of a New Zealand Naturalist”: — “Xenicus gilviventris, I am glad to think, is one of the species likely to survive changes that from the forester’s and field naturalist’s point of view have desolated New Zealand. The ravages wrought elsewhere by deer, rabbits, opossums, birds, and other imported vermin are unlikely to affect the welfare of the Rock Wren. Even weasels and rats —and I know they ascend to great heights —are hardly likely to draw sufficient recompense in prey from such unpeopled solitudes Plant life,’ furthermore, in these high altitudes find in this shower-bath climate is certain to remain undominated by an alien flora. The vegetable kingdom thus unaltered, native insect life is consequently secure. With cover and food supplies unmodified, the Rock Wren may be considered relatively safe. “To this species, as to others threatened by the inroads of civilisation, climate - ! climate! when all else has failed, remains a tower of strength, a city of refuge, the shadow of a great rock in a weary land. The assets of the Dominion are by no means limited to warmth of sunshine and refreshment of shower. In the wilds of New Zealand fierce gales, tempests prolonged, torrents of rain, perpetual wetness, spell salvation to many nn> interesting breed! ’O ye Jrost and Cold, ’O ye Ice and Snow, O ye Mountains and Hills, bless ye the Lord, praise Him and magnify Him for ever!’ must be the canticle of our little mountain Wren.”