WEST COAST BIRDS.

Hokitika Guardian, 29 November 1921, Page 4

WEST COAST BIRDS.

(By J. Drummond, F.L.S., F.Z.S., in Lyttelton "Times.” People who :it the present time cross Duffer’s Creek, some thirty-seven miles south of Hokitika, on the South AVestlaiul Road, usually hear, on the southern bank of tile creek, the notes of n bellbird. Groves of wineben-y often spring up in. forest clearings on the West Coast, but on the southern bank of Duffer’s Creek, close’ to the place where the road bends from tlie bridge, the second growth is a grove of native fuchsias. A rniro covered with rata vines, was left when the bank was cleared. In it, two hell birds evidently, have made their nest, and from it, or from another tree, they listen for approaching travellers, whom they greet with a. single silvery note, two notes, six or seven notes, the last two sounding a distinct “ding-dong”. The notes mingle with the manifold sounds of tlie waters of the creek, soft and gentle in the sunshine, loud in flood time. A few minutes after they have been uttered a songster may appear, flitting inquisitively amongst the Loughs. When it has gratified its temper, it turns its attention to the nectar in the fuchsia, flowers. As those droop from the lower surface of the branches, it resorts to many pretty antics in order to thrust its tongue, which is tipped with a hunch of stiff fibres, into each purple calyx. The duffer who gave a name to til,, creek seems to bo forgotten by residents of tlie district. He was succeeded by some forty Ohinutnen. Their chatter and the ring of their picks and shovels have given place t° the hellbird’s notes, but their proverbial industry is memnralisod by miles or stones which blackberries and biulh-kiwyors have found convenient supports, and by a half hidden tailrace. still carrying a sparkling water from a fall into the creek. That part of the roal. mil,, after mile of it, runs along a magnificent avenue, only olio chain wide, made through some of tiie deepest forests in this Dominion. Red pines, white pines, silver pines, miros. totnras. and other forest trees, with smaller trees and shrubs that supply the undergrowth of a mixed rain forest of the West Coast make sheer walla, in places almost 100 feet high. On each aide, at irregular intervals they are broken by saplings of the Knmahi and by the wineben-y, whose leaves are beginning to turn dull yellow even lie fore their crimson flowers have brought forth their berries. Tlie shining broadleaf. like several New Zealand orchids, sometimes abandons its terrestrial habits, to tak,, up its abode (,n another plant. On those walls it supplies patches of contrast, in both shape and colour, to the foliage ot the stately pines. A shrubby climber, the kie-kie, whose Maori mint,, has been corrupted into gay-gay. and whose botanical name is useless for ordinary purposes, seems to have taken complete possession of some trees. Amongst slirubs on the roadside are two inem(liers of the Panax family. One is known locally as five-finger, on account of its leaves being arranged like the outstretched fingers of a hand, and tlie other as tlie castor oil plant. In other parts of the AYcst. Coast, both are known as karaka. a name that should ho confined to a handsome laurel-likc tree with poisonous berries which forms handsome groves in th,, North Island and tin- northern parts of tlie South Island. Tlie English buttercup blooms plentifully on the damp edges of the road, under the shadows of the trees, in the company of New Zealand’s wild white, almost seentloss, violets. A cottony herb, one of the Gnaphaliums, shows its white flowers on the banks ( ,f cuttings and here and there a snowberrv may he found, if it is looked for. Perhaps the greatest botanical surprise to a visitor at present is in a clearing around the Lake Tanthe Hotel, where paddocks arc blue with blooms of a moisture-loving plant emblematic of friendship and fidelity, the Old World’s far-famed forget-me-not Rellh'irds at Duffer's Greek have mates all along the road. Their notes, varying in nuinlier and intensity, may he beard at any time of tlie day. They are similar to notes of th,. North Island b'-llbirds and different from them. A resident of tlie North Island, who often had heard the notes of hellbirds in that part of the Dominion. inimodiat, ly would reeognis,. heilbinls whose mites he heard ill South Westland, even if lie did not see the songsters, but lie would hear marked differences. North Island hellbirds. probably. hav„ clearer notes than those of hellbirds in the south, and utter them more distinctly, but, southern hellbirds have more notes Tn tlie North Island, usually, four notes ape uttered, somewhat, loisuircly. as quick as a person might, strike a silver bell. Tn South Westland, it is not unusual to hear a hellbird utter seven notes. After tlie first few notes, the songsters seem to lose tin- tune, become perplexed, try to repeat two notes and then, apparently finding the notes they seek end with two distinct triumphant notes. Both sexes of Hoi IHi ids sing. Tiler,, seems to he no difference in the notes of tlie sexes. Tlie male, which is slightly larger than the female maybe recognised easily hv his steel-black ■ap. Tuis are heard on the road less frequently than bellbirds. Sometimes they hound into a tree with thick foliage and look down at a stranger. Trills of grey-warblers there are different from those members of the same species in Canterbury. It is difficult to define the .subtle, difference. A few weeks ago Mr Peterson, surfaceman on tlio road when clearing a bank, almost cut down th,. nest of a, pair of grey-warblers who bad built in a young miro, about ton feet high. He left it. Hut as the protecting trees had been removed, the owners did not return. Tlie pattern was th e soda-water Little, one favoured by grey-warblers. The porch above the round entrance hole in one side was exceptionally prominent. The nest -liais been hung to one [branch and steadied by slender guys running from tlie bottom of the nest to a lower branch. Robins, tomtits and fantails are as friendly in South Westland forests as in other forests, and woodpigeons allow people to go within a few yards of them before they fly off with noisy flight. At night, more pork owls’ boding notes fit ill with the forests' supernatural gloominess. Kingfishers find ample food supplies in the insect life, of tli£e district, and nesting places in lofty pines. Wekas, once plentiful hav,. disappeared completely, but a few kiwis are heard roaring at night. Kakan

and kOns pay Hying visits to the vicinity of the hotel. Near human lialiitations, song-thrushes are more plentiful than blackbirds; yellow-hammers and chaffinches are much in evidence; and skylarks excelling in song all native birds put together, send their melody down oil to the river-beds. The iotul [lasses close to the shore of a sheet of silvery water, dedicated to lantlie. a Greek goddess. Its outline. roughly circular, is so densely wooded that it is troublesome to reach the edge of tlie water, except in a few places, where there are small gaps, usually a few yards of shingly beach. Tt never has been sounded. As its sister lakes, Kauicri and Brunner, are several hundred feet deep lan the also. ; probably, lias abyssal depths. Reeidlenffs wlit) have l-owcd over it be- , lievo that it is divided, under the surface of the water, by a ridge, which runs north and south, and that there are great depths on each side of tlie ridge. Close to tliei shores are tree trunks and branches it has claimed from the land. Lying on the bottom 11icv take on strange and weird shapes as the water swells over them. The outlet is one of the prettiest creeks in New Zealand. Rushes, i-nnpo. nig-ger-heads and llax bushes, which grow on the banks or actually in the water, - ar 0 nesting places of grey ducks, black toad, black swans and crested grebes. The bird life is less plentiful than might be expected on a Make in the seclusion of great forests.