Items for Farmers

Horowhenua Chronicle, 15 June 1910, Page 4

Items for Farmers

LITTLE OWLS IN OTAGO

A resident of Central Otago wild was one of the first to receive some of the little owls imported by tJve Otago Acclimatisation Society, recently gave some iuitdrestine; informatfilon .regarding the halbms of the birds, gathered from personal observations during the 'three yours the birds have beeiv with (biim. \ large number of tiho birds filrst I.'ljei'a,ted were afterwards found de-ul, and the reason for tihiis iis otltri'b'itKi to the fact that dniriing the voyage out they temporarily lost their er of flight through 'being el'osoly confined, and probably they may have, also been in connnenienvt some time before they were shipped/. When the resident referred to received hiis birds, he mado a largo cage with wire 'netting, affording •sufficient space to enable the birds to use their wings. Jn tihis they were kerJt for a m'onth and fed upon chopped rabbit and what fow small birds could be trapped lor them. The ihrrdis upon liberation wore thus able to fly and seek their own food. A pair of them havo regularly bred during the last three years in a hole in, a stone wall close ih> the farm buildings. Members of the household may approach within a few yards of the, 'birds, but a visitor is at once detected and given a wide berth. The 'birds have bred once a year, and have had fouip young onos on e'ach occasion. They are fed at the nest for about three months, after which they are gradual] enticed ouit by their parents, and each day thoy go further and further away, till 'bobh old and young dlisappea'r altogether for a time. It is stated by an authority that Hie parents drive the young ones from the nest bi.it not tlilo case with the birds 'under observation. The parents fed the birds principally upon grubs and apparently the grassJßhib and beetle is onb of tho foods. As to What good the little owls have done, the observer referred to cites his own case and nidations that neighbours have had similar experiences. He owjis a large orchard, and the small birds, by eating ttlie buds during the winter months, had made it So unprofitable .that ho tjuyied bis sheep among tlie trees. Seed oflts w_ero taken wholesale, and when the crops were ripe Itihey wore 'baldly worth threshing, owing to tho toll levied by the small birds". Since the advent of the little owls, tho number of small birds in the neighbourhood is so reduced .a.s to do little /harm; the orchard has been renewed, and one can hardly notice any damage to oat crops. It is not contended that the owls have destroyed all the small birds, but they lwve eaten many of them, and driven itihe rest away. Two owls have b'een seen to kill a half-grown rabbit, one helping the rather. Tho sottler went in for growing strawberries on a large scale, but the grass gifubs destroyed nearly all tin. plants. What plants were loft af'•fcer the owls became established are still living, as if Itjhe ravages of the grass grub .lint? Tj eon checked, and it is bis intention to resum'o.strawberry cultivation. The habits of tho owls have been observed very closely, and as they had made their homo dose to the farm ilmiklings and had become familiar wiitlh the members of '.the household, tihere- was •a good opportunity of ■watching them. Tho point regarding the keening of 'the'birds in a large cage, so that > they can resrain Uie use of tliaiir wings before liberation is an important one, and may prevent serious lnss ; The Otago Acclimatisation Society are expecting another consignment of 100 bii'd.s to replace those lost in the wreck of tho Malori.