OUR BIRD LIFE.

Hokitika Guardian, 8 June 1923, Page 4

OUR BIRD LIFE.

NEW ZEALAND’S FEATHERED COMMUNITY. “What made me first take up the study of the birds’ songs was the fact that our New Zealand birds seem to be dying out,” said Mr . C. Andersen, speaking at the Y.M.C.A., Wellington. oil “Our Bird Life.” “I want to give you a small amount of the pleasure which the birds have given me." added the speaker. “To hear the birds wo must go into the bush, and it it were not for the hcdgesparrow. the thrush, the starling, and the blackbird many people would never hear the songs of the birds.”

Of all the birds, perhaps the warbler was the most enjoyable, both for its habits and its songs, Nothing could give greater pleasure than to sit in a wood and listen to the songs ol the warbler. To listen to a bird you must sit still-- not wander around, for the birds are constantly on the move. The warbler bad two distinct songs, one mournful and one joyful. The tunes were quite distinct from each ether,

and. strange to say, m our various centres the songs of the warbler also varied. It had taken the speaker three years to distinguish that a warbler possessed two songs. A most remarkable thing about bird songs is that their great compass of notes makes it almost impossible lor an uneducated ear to tell if a song is really emanating from the throat, or whether the bird is silent. This is accounted for by the fact that the bird is Using such high notes that its tones are inaudible, l-ife-|iL ■ Imitations of bird cries were given by the lecturer, to illustrate his remarks. . There is no more methodical lord living than the cuckoo. I non tl. ' Em..|j s Y, . iickoo’s arrival in England in its proper season it immediately looks round for tv suitable resting-place. This ingenious bird will watch the structure of nests and can say almost to a day when it "ill he able to lay its J.jjrfr in a nest which is nearing coinoTelii’ii. Cunningly, the cuckoo will always leave the same number of eggs m the nest as it finds. This is done by t j| }ier eating or carrying away one ol the pippit’s eggs which are alrendv there. It is a strange tiling that buds aw not averse to the laying of a cuckoo's ip their licsf. It has been act-

ually proved that the cuckoo is expected io the various nests, and that if cuckoo's egg is removed from a nest, the owner will desert his home upon finding the egg gone. Our New Zea--1,1 ikl m.ifkoo does not desert the Dominion at any time of the year; it merely ha nuts the secluded valleys. THE Biv'.L-BIIll) AND THE TEL It was widely supposed that the holl-

I ird wit.- the 1 mimic of our birds, but in nudity tie Ini is our mocking bird. I lie Maoris used to teach the lui to sneak short phrases. In a tree ii ini is very leisurely, often sifting quite a while apparently in thought. The hell-bird is active, however. The speaker hud seen till anil a liell-hird conduct, a dmt together, the mi maintaining e, ba-s ione by a series of spits and g"l----ttral ejaculations! “It is really beautiful to get up early ic the nioi-11:i:;i to hear the birds, said the If! miei . “hilt you must get up

curly—three o’clock a! the latest. D is dark, and the stars seem to lie three times their ordinary size, and to he much nearer the earth than usual. From :• faraway valley van sudd; niy her .in ~ir!v iis i summoning the lest c-i the birds to join in the morning's song. The calls are picked up until there are many themes. I hey are simple, hut it indeed is worth rising tv 1 1 v ti hea r l he-e birds!" Answering a questioner tram the in-ter,'-til audience as to the possibility tin, New y.eidand pigeon becoming cNiiiut, Mr Anderson said that there was sit,-h a possibility a- this lard wa* sc 11 iend!.'. and did nut kc-i-!“’■ ay from human beings, and as Inr rs was known the pigeon had no song. Except mi sancticn ies there was a danger of the bird dving out. There i- no vjieit in shooting such a lord, neither i- there any credit in killing sic !i a tame lut'd. (util the practice of ciicoitrageiiient of the killing of pigeons was stopped we would assuredly have the danger of the presentation by boys i i native, and not merely pigeon, eggto tic ni.lhoi'ities.