THE LAND BIRDS OF WESTLAND.

Hokitika Guardian, 8 November 1921, Page 4

THE LAND BIRDS OF WESTLAND.

(Written by tbc lute Mr Charles Douglas, the* well-known explorer of the mountains of Westland.)

(Continued.) THE KM Aid. GREW'

This bird is two-thirds less in size than the erested one. and is not so fine in plumage, otherwise it is the same in habits. It always was a comparatively rare bird and is a very curious little being, quite tame in the presence of man. II you dangle your leg just over the water and keep still, they will collie up and peck at your boot. THE SHAG. This is another bird the origin of

whose name is lost io the mists of antiquity. 1 have heard the same name applied to the British Island cormorant. No doubt that is where the name came from. They are undoubtedly the most repulsive birds in creation and have a satanie leer in their yellowish eves which would give a nervous fellow j the shive.s. The Idl'd would he more i appropriate than an owl io a picture of I Sonora and the speetie horseman, and | if stuffed and standing well upright I lliev wonhd give a fine finish to a j hearse. i There appiais to he two or three | verb lie of the shag with habits and ! appearance the same, differing only in ! size. The king shag, as it is called. • stands over two leer ie heigh 1 .. but they I are verv rare. Ihe snag geiieiallt 1 i ..a i .! ~ costs in communities high -o ,;u ; ees, lint often they make them ~:i ;:;o .rinind. and no doubt u lien the lei']- s - ■;o I a! Ihe I u thee udl hit! hi on .he trees altogether. Not that they ■ . a! i he afraid of ferrets themselves, j It would be a brave dog or tenet who I would taihie a shag, bill 1 lie.v would i ho to tr-'es tor tbe sake ol tlieii ) \ ouiig and o 1 s.’.s. I lie ill’s iis olteii le 11 t. tab’ i .'lie 111 itself while the old ones 1 a re a way feeding. The nests are the j u-aial eare’ess eonslruet ion built by 1 lias' bird:, who have few enemies. A , few . ticks huddled together and added to as Ike young come out. is :d! they j eoiisidi”' ii 'eessaiy. The three or lour eggs t!ey lay ate white and oblong

s’ aped, varying in size according n tie iir!. Gill all hough oblong is Ihi gciicial shape, it is a inatter ol indilfeieliee Io li.e bird. Sometimes the egg is round. sometimes even lopid !.

The shag is one of llie New /.ealaiul bints who are honoured by having a p- 1 e out on I '-eir ! "a"' a '-mv. it is I believe, tile value put on iliem.

; ; list i bateliei ies (hey are no doubt more desli net ;ve lo fish than any olliei bird vxeep. pei.a,.r the ••nines and !,ir ei u: , an t il is !.■i rt ieiuli ug I" i nine soitit mlv on tlii’lv or only shag., iinimiis tile.o-.’ I> e on a lilIT i auk. and if startled they will throw up enough of whitebait to supply a .Ministerial dinner 'i is- birds of 11 e air and the iP !, of 1 1 •’ -on wi ie Heated for man's ii.-nclit. and it is preposteioils that a Gil ! V lid he all v .1 to h’-e - that etcates such havoc. So ue say. Uni I shoul.l like very w. '.i to know the - hag ? opinion ol a eel lam long-legged biped, v, 1.0 manures Ins onion bed- with whitebait, \vl eu he can't sell ihcm. No ■.■■ under that when living past a white man or a (.'l.inamao. Ihe shags loo!, nve ' their shotildei at them w ith a ‘■Jain of demoiiaie hate in their eyes. Ii an understaml how grey dm k may lave an intuitive knowledge that ; . is ... I|| ea .i : X aml i e . io i onseipieiiee. or how other lords may heroine . I I . i e' ; n i, ■: i: e, il it tl :•! Ihe hieg th t no v. Gil. n • n v oiild i if lie n sl:,"vii’ ; and 1.0 any I up iso exei'pl baiting an eel pol, ale inn woitii a charge of shot. 'l'lial a liiid that is seldom disl iirls’d by inan and is too powerful I. o.i, 'ii'lm I,: or any ,: 1 n ' ,v Zol m I i :ioi:r. slum! I be >i., and . 1 1,■ ais on the look out danger, IP: u P i .1 he ease, lb l Imps they i:o think their llcsli delieious, their bide more valuable than sable, and that eveiy museum is thirsting In: their sttllleil elligy .

Pci Imps in lime of famine the old .Maoris did hunt them remorselessly. The old native was rather partial lo stiong tasting and snmlling food. As with the penguin, gull, garnet ami suchlike birds to eat the shag requires a prolonged training. They have plenty of flesh 011 them, but the taste is suggestive of rod herring with guano sauce. 'flu* shag is generally found in the lakes and lagoons near the sea, and they will go mil to sea occasionally mid

enterprising individuals penetrate many miles inland where water exists. With all their clumsy appearance they can fly like the wind and think nothing al out crossing the snowy mountains, and they can dive and swim under water almost, as well as a grebe. TILL WIIfTF ( HANK.

From tlie* ugly to the handsome is an easy transition. Birds like men, suffer from that unfair judgment which makes the good and the beautitiil

synonymous. Here is *a bird as useless as the shag for any human purpose, unless to ornamnet a pond, a bird that destroys more tisli than any shag and eating dead sheep and other carrion that a respectable shag would scorn. Yet being handsome it is admired ami protected, w hile the other is a pariah despirod by gods ami men. The cram* with its snow white plumage certainly an ornament to a sheet of water, and if they do destroy fish what docs it matter. They are as much entitled to a share of fish as we are. Like th«* heron it does nut weigh much, being only a collection ol legs and feathers, and those feathers have been its destruction. It is a shame that » race of birds should Ik* almost exterminated for the sake of n small tuft of feathers wheje the bird’s tail ought to Im*. That tuft is really all that is wanted. The rest of the skin is generally thrown away.

'l'lic crane broods ill commnnit ios dm |,igb troos :md ill >in<‘ time ‘ "<‘re plentiful sill nvor 1 1 10 Const., but t.lioir ,iri 111 -i |);11 brooding ground Hour Olcirito w:is destroyed by one id tlio iubsibit;illts who out down the troos tlio.v had boon building on for centuries. This vuitdalie not was done not to get at tlio bilds but to spite somebody else "bn wanted tbom preserved. After that the birds scattered and boloro lone only a f,. v solitary ones eould be seen.

If not distilrhed tbe same bird will I,.main ahont a distiict for years and beeonie tame. I have had one walking about mv garden as if it was the owner. hut it is had poliey to tamo lords, especially if they are rare. Some fool

is sure to come along and shoot it for its skin, so he says, but tbe skin is generally thrown away in a few days. At least that has been the fate of any I have seen. They never get as far. as the bird staffers.

When not hunting for fish the crane is to he seen perched on a high tree, one w ith a cloud top preferred. I here he will sit for hours meditating and digesting the pint or two of whitebait inside of him. When hunting they prowl about shallow pools standing in the water as still as if they were stu(fed, hill with one eye open all the same. The height, of crane happiness is to get a shallow pool where the fish have been left by a flood and can’t get away. Then lie throws caution to the winds. He knows lie has them and |M'O<*oolls to empty that pool as fast as possible in ease some shag on the prowl comes to assist. It' suddenly disturbed 5 the crane rises wit h a loud trumpeting er.v. Tegs, wings and head look as if they were in each other's way and that the bird was going to tumble to pieces in its efforts to escape, but when once fairly started on the wing, it stretches its legs away behind—to do duly for a tail-—and sails away, arching its lieek and tlu lling its body gracefully about, a wonderful contrast to (lie shag who was roused at the same time and got steam up at once and is plying his pinions at a rate, and with a di'UTmiiiat.ion as if he didn’t intend to stop till lie j*ot. round (’ape Horn.

The only chanee the crane has of survivin'* in Westland at least is in the far South w!i»to they hav** started a nailery. When ! first found it there was only one nest. Two years afterwards then* were live. As the place is a clump of tiees in the middle nt an almost impassable swamp and in a country with no inhabitant', and not likely to have any for years to rutite, the birds will have a chance to spread over the country. Where the place is, and how 1 j*ot into il, I dedim* ti> say. Leave the Liids alone l»y all means. There are one or two birds supposed to he extinct hut are m»t so, although very rare. Their \vhr;eabout's is my secret and will remain so. When a bird or beast is nearly extinct science and museums offer hijj.li icnards for their capture. If it is the lasi of the race so much the hi tter. A* a specimen there is an expedition away at present to the wilds of I’a Laconia in hopes of murdering the last of the jiiant sloths. Mm.cone h*s remarked that if the Venus, the Apollo or lie .Mooses were destroyed, some ijynijis in sculpture o*i .dil arise to ci\e the w«uld others. Inn a bird cm animal species once destroyed can never lie restored oil earth So jrive the few ran* hi ids a chance of i :.i.-ten<v.

7: i K BLFF (HANK OK lIKROX. This bird is much smaller than the

.. !iiu* cram* and in general appearance and habits it resembles the holm* heron to which species it no doubt belongs.

it is said to lie a native of Australia, c-M No v Zealand, and therefore a bird oi passapi. I lather think it is a bird common to both countries, as I have .seen them all the year round. It is a solitary, bird and very ran* even at the first of the (oast. Now only one or two are to he seen below Jacksons Ikiy. It is generally to be found near the sea const prowling about among fin* pools in the rocks at low tide.

THE BITTERN

Tin..i >• u. f i u,i ,hriclies of this swamp Gird both exactly alike m plumage mill liabiis. 1 )iHori u<i only in size thv .sinnll tin,* is not a littli tin l size ol file ulnei. T! ,■ s n.,11 Inin ni i nt lirst took for n vming Gi ri 1 uml it was lung holme I 1. tlillft'n!. Even in 11 io o:i ily days n vt’i y rare tu at lt’iisi st’liloin si't'ii. I can’t I'l’i’ttllt’ri seeing one lor years now, although I tit,n't- lliink they me extinct. It was always a wry shy bii.! alii yot tl n*. hiding itsoll, uml t;,ri: name l.mmis Here ill stn-li im-

]’ - 1.1 GU- swamps no wonder il has scl d un In-oil seen.

The laree billi’i u G r pients I lie same soil ol places, ami aiv not so ran.’, ami ns limy don't appear to hate civilisation like tin* other olio, they are niton soon uml uro wiilolv soaltorotl from one oml of Wostlnml in tlio other, prowling aniline tho rushes at till* edgt' ol lagoons am! hup linlos. They walk with :t i-riiiit-lii ■if', sneaking sort ol gait. anil if slai iloil will tako to tho basil ami up a troe instead oi living, at w 1 ii ofi they are not very export, lising very sltiuly, tlioir lops dangling down as il they wanted to shako thorn oil. Although strictly speaking a hslionnan they arc not aliovo eating dead shoo]) or hiids. As Crops spread over the eoimlrv as they arc sun- to do, the Intloin will ho in clover and bless tin* man who lirst iistmduccd them. (To be continued).