SPECIAL ARTICLE.

Hokitika Guardian, 13 April 1922, Page 4

SPECIAL ARTICLE.

In Touch With Nature

WHISTLING FItOGS

By J. Drummond, F.L.S., F.Z.S

(Written for the “Lyttelton

Times.”)

Mr F. W. Hobbs, when spending last Christmas season in the Otira j Valley, about seven miles west of the J tunnel, and near the junction of the Otira lliver and the Teramakau River. ! heard sounds at night that he thought were uttered by some nocturnal bird. He discovered that they came from whistling frogs. They were so different from croaks he had heard on the eastern side of the ranges that he did not at first associate them with the whistling frogs of which residents had spoken to him. When several frogs were caught, he was surprised at their smallness. “They utter a persistent and far-reaching sound, like an unmusical whistle on one or two notes,” 110 writes. ‘lf a man had a voice as loud, in proportion to his size, he could stand in Cathedral Square and speak to his wife on the Cashmere Hills.”

The whistling frogs of the West Coast have a somewhat interesting history. They are not found in any part of New Zealand except tho West Coast, and they are not natives of this country. The spcci'es belongs to Australia. It is very plentiful on tho eastern side of the Commonwealth and in Tasmania. Forty-seven years ago, a few members of the species were taken by Mr W. Perkins, a Greymouth solicitor, in a bottle from Tasmania and were Ulcerated in a drain in .Alexander Street, Greymouth. Their descendants now occupy a great stretch of country from Greymouth to Hokitika, and from the sea coast to the mountains. They do not seem to have gone further south than Hokitika. They have not been reported north of Greymouth, hut probably have made their way in that direction. South of Hokitika, tho green frog, another Australian, which first was introduced to Canterbury, and made its way over the ranges to the West Coast, is very plentiful. In raupo swamps and other wet, weedy places it may he heard at any time of the day. The whistling frog, which usually is brownish, hut changes like a chameleon, seems to he strictly nocturnal. It belongs to a. group known as tree frogs. Tt certainly is adept at climbing, using adhesive discs on its lingers and toes, hut it hardly can be described as arboreal, as, when not living on the ground, it mostly favours shrubs

like the blackberry. Tli|o whistles sometimes are solos. Oftener they are choruses. A sudden end to a chorus, apparently, is brought about by knowledge of an enemy’s presence. Frogs are fairly low in tho zoological social scale. Their brains at least are of a low type. At ti e same time ,they know that siler.. may he golden. The little West Coasters, finding their environment congenially damp, spawn at any time of the. year. A female lavs about one hundred eggs at one time. They are enveloped in clear jelly and are made into a hunch from one inch to two inches long, which is placed symmetrically round a stem of grass, a reed, a stick, or a twig. The whistling frog’s official title is Tlyla ewingi; its bigger cousin the green frog is Hvla si urea. Before the. introduction of those Australians, the West Coast, like most other parts of New Zealand, was a. frogless district. Frogs were introduced to checkinsects. on which they feed. Although

they do no harm, it is doubtful if they have cheeked noxious insects materially. The Australians should thrive hotter in this Dominion than in their native country. Instead of droughts,

they have a steady rainfall. In addi-

tion, most districts in New Zealand are well watered. The West Coast, in fact, is a frog’s paradise. Mr Hobbs bas spent the past two Christmas seasons in the pleasant Otira Valley. When he went there last season the mistletoe’s flowers ornamented the tops of the beeches. I n his bed in the hotel in the early morning be amused himself by counting the scarlet splashes in the forests on Mount Alexander, which rises 8000 feet from the banks of (lie Teramakau. The rata in the volley, he states, is so plentiful in the New Year that it seems to crimson the whole of the forests. Earlier in file season, before the mistletoe has bloomed, the delicate white ilowers of the clematis are the principal attraction. One glorious day the members of Mr Hobb’s party rode several miles up the Teramakau (.Jorge crossing the river many times. They forded up the Otehaka,. a rushing tributary of the Teramakau Hirer, for an hour, left their horses, went up through dense forest for several hundred feet, over a. crest, and down to Kaura.pa.takau, a high mountain like that winds for several miles warm, shallow, and everywhere overhung with hush. The crested grebe, a. grace- ; ful swimmer and an amazingly expert diver, is plentiful on the lake, where it lives in solitude and safety. A single-crested grebe and some grey ducks and teal were seen on the Arnold River, down which the party drifted in the evening lights, with shadows so real tha,t it was hard to recognise where the forest ended and the water began.” Bird-life was not plentiful at Aicken’s. -PigeonSi 'welie fairly plentiful further up, but there were only a few in the lower forests. When the berries ripen later an the season, Mr Hobbs explains, more pigeons come down. A pair of kakapos lived in the bush near the house; their notes often were heard in the early hours of the evening. Tt is reported that those night, parrots still are plentiful there. The kaka is reported to be present in fairly good numbers on the upper parts of the Kelly Range. Several leak as were seen flying high over head. The visitors did not see either a kiwi or a weka. The kiwi is reported to be "present in fair numbers, but, being strictly nocturnal, is seldom seen. The weka almost has disappeared from the district. For that , Mr Hobbs blames the weasels, several j of which he saw. He heard the bod- , ing notes of the morepork owl on most

nights he was in the district. He le- j marks that its nocturnal habits should , save it from danger of extinction. He j has seen only one morepork in the day time, and it was at Tolago Bay, north j of Gisborne. To his surprise, he saw trout in the rapid waters of the Otira and the Teramakau, which, at that iplaee, fall about fifty feet in a mile. Many small trout were seen in the shallows and the back waters. Here and there in deeper pools big trout were seen. Residents said that those fish could not be caught. That was disproved by a member of the party, who with a minnow, landed two about 4lbs each. They' were the only result of many hours of fishing. The Rangipoko, which flows into Lake Brunner, gave good baskets ,and is described as a delightful stream. Between Poroa, and Te Kinga there are streams that look good, but were not tried by the party. As to (Lake Brunner, Mr Hobbs writes: j “There is good fishing there at times, I but if you don’t strike those times J you may as well stay at home as far : as fishing is concerned.”