THE LAND BIRDS OF WESTLAND.

Hokitika Guardian, 1 November 1921, Page 4

THE LAND BIRDS OF WESTLAND.

< VVritt<Mi by tlie lute .Mr ('billies Douglas, the well-known oxpiorer of the mountains of Westland.)

Writing ;ibout (lie birds and lisli of New Zealand is-but going over old ground, so many books have been issued on the subject, still one who Inis been wambling about ihe country and

s.m!i"d the birds in their native haunts for ovi r thirl . years, may be allowed io know s uuei hiiiu; about t hem beyond the div des riptions of science, descriptions A l l it-h are only for a certain class, not for lie gemnal public. Even a dry silbiei t such as oi not lin logy may lie made. eio.o readable by being enlivened with a little human and short stories descriptive ol tin* habits ol birds when in |hoir natural state of existence. To most people a bird is simply a bird. To me it is a living creature with its likes and dislikes, a creature in most cs with a measuie of intelligence low

them credit for. Take for instance the \\ cka. .so two biids ate really alike. They have their dill'ereuces in intelligence', in their ways and habit i and all ol'or biids except per-

haps the pig on, are the. same. Even a bnt we call the most stupid have dilferent degrees of stupidity. No two birds of v, hntover species arc actually alike.

Itcfccc proceeding in my dc-oriptimis .jt musi* In- undcrstooil t! inl 1 make no pretentions to science, and will give the 1 |.. not their scientific n: me but the ::.,:,:e they go bv in the country, bowi ever inappropriate t-bose names mat be 1 avoiditc: scientific terms even when I . know them, and will write, not as lor j a book or a magazine, but as pleases mxs.lf. And it also must be understood that 1 am writing ol Westland ! alone, both as it vas and is in legal.l to I bird life.

There are few greater mistakes that pco] ; ■ me only in the Old Country but even iii the Colonics fall.into than that New Zealand is destitute or comp.irativilv d 'ilute ot birds ami I'd'A man may be thirty years in the Coloitv and still know little about it. !!,. .• . 1 m e and is considered an authority on all subjects connected uitb ihe iialuivl history ol tin 1 country, u Idle it is a fact that with the e.xeep-

1 ii.ii o! a tea Sill l e\ois, prespectors and an odd explorer, not one man in a hundred has ever hceu out ot Ins own pa 1 1 cilia i district, a indies of say. thirty miles, which to him is Now Zealand v. iib a loin ic'd gallop to Pnvn once a year and all Ids time in the count ry. roc r: | .d: a mdc iii tV' hush aid lie know s l lie nintiiituins only by telescope. The Canterbury I’luiii- and open , '.ots ii lune Pu, native birds, |as il is not I heir mil me in I rcpiiiil I Mu lt plat c . Hui I lie hush, ext rpt neai ! long >ct ! led disi I let S. IS sun lining a il h ' various kinds of liirds. 'lhe hikes, bush. I egeks and lagoons me tull ol ducks. ; a.ul on the liver lints and imtaiii I. im i'S vvekas. kcas. I.alias and blue i ducks arc to lie got almost without | trouble. Kinm tin* sen beach to iln* I snow lilt" 'i d life is to be found. As ■it soiig biids, the song ot the roliin. the clniriis 111 Ihe bell l.i id, and I In* Ini. and the plaintive llille-lihe note ot the crow vcill compare fav.iural.lv with tile hi ds in ;mv part ot' tin* world. Many ' oho ought to know better lameni the vocal silence of the woods so unlike the Hiilish Islands. I.et those people get up mi a summer morning and they will In* defined with melody. in places that have long settled and where every house and hut keeps a lot of half-starved eats, birds cun mu be plentiful but to assert that because thev are not to lie sirn .about a town 1 bev don't **xis| anywhere is nonsense. Tie same remarks amilv to tlesh

Tin* miiih* ri’iiiiirks :i]>p!\ In ln'sh Lr:i*'lvi'll w:it<*r fish. I^•«»}»!«• wLo :»t 1 111’ iit * wiiuhl t*:i II t henisolvos rlovet il :il'l«*r painfully tin* wain for a loiio <lav and catrliisip; a couple nf down of lisli a low indies ! iijj;, dt-claie N.-w Zealand \\n‘c*:s :i.e destitute nf lisli Locaii- ■ ilioy <• mint cat. 'i them, not km - inji Inr.v or '.vliore in Innk. Nmv I will ox* pi n i pint nf lliis Island, river, crook, lagoon, lake or liiL’liok* Las lisli in liicm nf sonic kind.

I Lave not Leeti in any pan ol tlm country, not even tlic tnrienis flowing ft mu a jylaoior. whole if I *«*t inv mind to it, | could iiof oatoli mote lisli in an Lour and at that, than I could in i.l lo Old Country in a week excepting picsoi vod ponds. I don't say all the lisli are as m»od local as trout and salmon. Kols some soaiooly consider a lisli, Lul then* is the n;ia\lino ev(*ry Lit as oood as tin* homo Iroill and sometit os twenty inches loll*2;. They doll t swim in dozens, Lut in shotiL ol iLoiis- ;, 11 Is. I Lave oaui-ht the fresh water I’oonder eieliteeii inches across Ihe havk and it is lo Le in almost every river, lake 01 lagoon, The coekahulla is in every hush creek and Inijz hole, and re sehes to live and six pound weigh I. Kols from om* pound to fifty pounds are to he c;ot wherever there is permanent water and in every mountain creek ami river, even in the milky streams tlowin*f limn a glacier where Iln* torrent dashes the rooks in a sl\!e one would think fatal to all life. 1 have caught niountain trout, as we call them, as fast as I have in my youth hauled in .sticklebacks with a crooked pin and a van! of thread, not to Njienk of shoals of whitehait. mullet and flounders comin** up the rivers every tide.

I don’t mean to say that every place in Westland possesses all those lisli, hut every witter Inis some of them, and all have eels and cockalndia and mountain trout, although the two latter lisli an* not particularly good eating, ’tel as lliey can ho caught almost anywhere, summer and winter, they are not to Ik* despised. One reason for thV general ignorance concerning the New Zealand lisli among the whites at least- is lew know how to catch them or care to learn, and th«* lisli don’t affoid what is called sport. Isaac Walton would not consider spearing flounders with a dinner fork or fighting eels with a hill hook or a club, as sport. A man from the Old Country when first landing goes out lor an hour or two with rod and line, and because nothing rises to the gorgeous Hies he brought from over 1 lie seas, he concludes at once that t!r*re are no fish, and never trios again. People tell me if there as so many fish why don’t we see them, to which 1 reply that "New Zealand lisli don’t show themselves much, feeding mostly at night. To show how little most people are really , given to observe nature or anything in

fact that is not directly in the way of money making hundreds of people living in llio country never saw a grayling or even knew of its existence, although they limy have been living for years alongside of a river where the lisli are passing every day, and in all m\ travels in Westland I have not met ball' a dozen people wlm knew that there exists a fresh water flounder, living miles away from the sea, larger than the sea variety, tolerable eating, and comparatively common. Even those who know ol its existence woiildn l know where to look (or them.

As for the imported lisli they will be w ritten about further on. Those lisli il they continue to spread as they are at present doing, will make an alteration in the peopling of the waters of Westland whether for good or evil remains to be seen.

THE RAT,

This part bird, whole animal, is unique in its way, as being the only mammal indigenous to the country. According to native tradition the -Maori rat, was brought by them from whatever part of the world the traditional canoes come from, and such may probably be the ease. The Norway and black rat and mice came out as free emigrants, or rather stowaways, and received a crown grant of the whole country on landing. Rabbits, ferrets and stoats bad their passage paid by a far-seeing paternal government, but there is no evidence that Use bat. was imported, so be oiigln to bv* piotul ol himself.

Tlu* L;u hi Lours umL'i- om* great disadvantage in this country : lie has no ruined castles or old lowers lo haunt. Still no doubt, they are quite comfortable in a hollow tie**. They have the usual bat habit of camping dining the day in a hunch, clinging to each other . It is rat her startling aftei kindling a fire against a hollow tree to see a bundle of astonished lints tumble into the lire.

Although strictly a night animal, they are often to be seen in the daytime. bill only in the dnik, sunless gullies. The bat never was plentiful, still a few are always to he seen both summer and wintei shortly alter sunset and tliev often come down a lifeless chimney or gel into a but or lent dazed by the light.

In moral eliarnetor the liai is not so iiinncciiL as one would suppose. T ln*y can steal. In a camp in the bush I was puzzled to find bacon, butler and any sort of lilt, nibble,l as if le. mice. Elaborate fixings wen* put on the fiittab, but will nillt success, till late one night having occasion lo go lor some stores, a lot of hats llew mil . The mvstciv was explained. Slill it is not often the bat steals, and when In* does there is not much liunn done. GROIN'D MUDS. THE APTERYX.

There me three varieties ol Ibis singular l.iiil in Westland ihe i‘>a, the kiwi, and .another wbieli 1 have called tin* gaol kiwi, as ii is feathered more like a kiw i than a l'>a. \\ bat it s leal name is I don't know. The Maoris in liruee liny seem |o have known it only le, tradition and eoiiMn i give it n name. Refine tin* West Coast was opened by the digger all .those birds ol tin* apteryx family wen* supposed to be, if mu extinct ut least nearly so, but I bis was soon found to be a mistake and now cveiy museum in tin* world lias their stulied elligies, and some of the zoos have I belli alive. Whether they breed In captivity 1 don’t know.

Till*: KIWI

From the fact that hank notes, postage stamps and advertisement diionies generally have a portrait oi this milt« 11 v looking bird on them, it is evident that tin* kiwi is the accepted national bird of New Zealand. On tnis subject 1 will oilier moie hilly when writing about the wekn.

There is no occasion for me to give ,1 description of the kiwi and the roa, as their singulai appearance and large egg an* well-known all over the world, Icl lei known pet haps than any other bird in the country. The kiwi was at

•••a* tine* common nil o\cr Westland almost as much so as wekas, hut the advent of cals, dogs and ferrets along with the huntings for science, have thinned their numbers, and ludoro long it will only he found in tin* Sounds and the wilder pails of Westland, where it will exist long after iln- 10:1 and giant kiwi arc extinct. Nevertheless it also is deemed to final extinction not altogether from eats, dogs etc who ae-

eeletatc their fate no doubt. Neither will it Im* through want ol lend. I'ln* same feed that existed a thousand years ago exists still, hut like the lima, the mauiotli and tin* matador, their the in creation lias conn* to a clu:-e. It is 011 U certain typos of insects and shell lisli that appear to he everlasting. Hit ds and beasts and even raecs of men have to inn I hoi 1 coiiise and fin:» I !;• disappear, giving plsu-e to some higher type.

The kiwi is certainly not of a high type. !l looks like a being one would expect to see in tin* moon, .Wars, or some d\ing out planet. When running about in tlu* moonlight it looks like a ghost of a bird especially il it has just boon digging in a rotten log when iis beak is often lumilious-phosphoreseenl. When breeding, the kiwi lays as a rule, two eggs, hut in no single instance did I ever get two chicks, and never saw remains of either ol the eggs. What they do with the spare one and the shell of the oilier is a mystery. Is it kept to feed tlu* solitary child.*'

Mow they hutch their eggs which an* almost as big as themselves, is an-ot-her mystery. I have only once caught them hutching, or gammoning to. It was in a hollow log ntul both birds were asleep, not sitting on the eggs, hut curled in a hall alongside of them. I think most of the heal required comes from decaying matter, tlu* leaves and such like they Iny llmir eggs on. There was nothing tin* wildest imagination could call a nest. When asleep the kiwi is a singular object. They stick their long beak between their legs and repose as a 1011 ml feathery hall. In combat the kiwi never use their Leaks except to make a slight crac king noise, hut light with their feet, a la Lancashire. Harmless as they appear they can still kill each other. ' but they could not he called a quarrelsome bird, unless a few from different holes are •..ul in the same cage ; then there is war. Perhaps they do light when meeting each other in hush, hut as lliey have no battle cry like the kakapo and many other liirds, but fight silently, no one knows what donnybrooks may b * going on in the silent forest.

In captivity they are rather difficult lo keep alive, many dying in a few

days, but when they get over the change they are easily tamed, and will cat almost anything. It is in captivity that their dense stupidity can best be seen. If put in a room they will go tramping mu ml close to the wall using their beaks as a walking stick. If a box or a. tub with water in it is put lignins the wall, lie doesn’t go round, but if passable the kiwi climbs into the tub, through the water and out again, and so on for hours, never thinking to avoid the tub and the water. IT lie .-an get round the back of the file so much tile better, never mind a singeing.

I once tamed one, and after a while ho did develops a laint glimmer ol intelligence. He turned into a day bird, would jump on the table and help himself to whatever was on the plates, and at night he would jump on my bunk and try to get inside the blankets. II lie did succeed be gave a peculiar girning, a cry I never beard lieloii’. As for eating a kiwi, just helore they commence breeding they are very lat ami good eating, still I must confess it requires some coilsideiable practice to get the acquired taste. They have an earthly flavour which to many would be disagreeable. The best definition I ever beard about roast* and boiled kiwi, was a man remarking it lusted as lie should imagine a piece ol pork boiled in an old eolfin would be like. The egg lias slightly the same llavoui. bill it is not to be despised. One egg makes an excellent fritter covering an ordinary living pan. Alloget.lli tin* kiw i. except in a museum ns one of the Insi of the preAdamites, is ol neither use nor ornament. 11 is intelligence is on about the same level as a spider, and it seems almost impossible to develope it. No doubt, like every living thing.* il lias its uses in erention. but as his work is done in the dark il is not apparent enough for people to give him any credit for it.

I said the kiwi was of no use. Here I am in error. They aie uscliil in a garden catching grubs, slugs and worms. They don't -eratrli up llower beds like domestic fowls, or pull up plants by till* loots to see what the end is like, as do wekas. I believe il their mie virtue was only Known they would run t lie 1 1 oil' the held as I lie lord ol a hot lions** or clo-eil in garden. 'I bell again almost the first kiwi caught oil tin* Coast was pm chased by all enterpiising publican who lolliid il attracted mole elisletil lo his house than ball a dozen auburn haired barmaids. (To be eontinueiH.