KAPITI SANCTUARY.

Hokitika Guardian, 4 September 1924, Page 4

KAPITI SANCTUARY.

NATIVE nri(DS INCREASING IN NU.M WOKS. EXTENT'S OIISEItVATIONS. S According to an official report which It bus been issued the efforts to preserve t New Zealand bird life at the Kupiti Island sanctuary, not far up the coast r from Wellington, are proving success- s fill. i 1 Recently, Mr Thomas Rrook, Com- i missioner of Crown I.anils, received i from Mr Johannes C. Anderson, who is t well known as a close-observer of the. - habits of our native birds, a letter giv- i ing the results of his observations ] when lie last, visited the island. As < the letter is considered to lie of wide i general interest it has boon made avail- , able for publication. It runs as fol- , lows:— TAMENESS OK THE KAKA. •*1 could not hut notice the richness of the growth in the valleys, the luxuriance and freshness of the ferns and mosses, the vividness of colouring of the lichens. I was over a good part of the island, in Te Here and on the spurs (111 either side, in my valley hevoml Chappie's camp, in the V a ter! all Valley, and the basin at the head of it, in the Maraetakaroro Valley, and up the sour between it and M harekolm. and in Wharekolm itself; and. whilst I was on the look-out for goals, the only time I saw any was when oil the spur at Wharekolm with you. lhe opossum-trapper was then out hunting them, and chased halt a dozen goals in the direction we were in. Resides these, except for a kid in the Maraetakaroro Valley. 1 saw no goats at all. The only sheep I saw, too, were on the Wharekolm spurs. •The hush was looking well everywhero seedlings in thousands, ami voting trees, too. There is one pest the nettle, that is coming on now that ,1m goats are oil'. I noticed this especially thick in the Waterfall \ alley leading to the basin. NO LACK OK RIRD LIKE. ••There was no lack of bird-life: birds were both numerous and tame, so that I had good eliMices ot watching them whilst they wore singing—though i thev were not in full song-seeing the • ,-liai neteristic postures and actions of - the various birds. The birds are. <■ course, constantly on the move: and hv sitting still in one place and wateli--1 hinr one gets a fair idea of what birds ’ are’in that locality. Seated thus m ‘ , „•• place, at between S and !l m the morning. I saw from Iwenty to thirty ! whiteheads, six bell-birds, two tomtits r „ne fantail, one kaka. and a (light of r linel.es: I saw all these, and he>ud - manv more, all in less than hall an 51 hour. In another place, m as short a time. I saw also pigeons and parakeets. . . 1 ••! was pleased to see. on tin- visit. ‘j as manv nude as female boll-birds: it < is evident they are not together , ibreugho.it the year, the two sexes - beino visible at different times. The I numerous robins were tame as usual, ' but I was particularly struck by the ' tameness of the kakas, parakeets, and ' pigeons. These are plentiful quite (lose down to the shore, and 1 repeat - ~ odlv saw them when at no distance at o all from the shore. It was noticeable, t- that they pay no regard to the II alarm-cry of the English birds. One 11 day I was stalking what I took to he a " blackbird, hut it saw me first and Hew ' ~if with its cry of alarm. A (wig fell

on me. ami looking no, there was

Uakn feeding iast above me : he paid no attention to the nlarm-er.v or to me. The birds 11l shy at different times

of the year. This time the tomtit was rather elusive ; I heard him far oltenor than 1 saw him. and had great difficulty in stalking him : at other limes lie stalks me am! shows no shyness at nil. || i, usually the solitary birds that are shy: one pair ol tomtits sal within reach beside me lor a long lime. ~, tbiii I side to mile their col--1,111 iie- .Hid ••elier:d I.eloH i.illl Tim I'e. jellied badly in|es|,.,| with nr mill, and they oeeiipied her ailention most rf the time they were in my company. Till'. TITS NOISELESS KI.K.'IIT. T was surprised to see no lui : twice I thought I saw him, but his llight was noiseless, and I thought 1 was mistaken. I find, however, that the birds can. if they wish, lie quite noiseless in 1 heir Might, or can ruffle or whirr with their feathers it they like. Once, il shadow passing was the only indication ! had ol a kaka alighting ' above me: I looked up, and caught him in I he* art of folding his w ings. The absence of the tui was accounted for when you told me that lie occasionally deserts the island for a. time, probably when a certain food is plentiful on the mainland. Two days hclore I leil he was coming hack, and I recognised his song at once. Rut he was shy. and as soon as lie saw me observing hint lie noiselessly Hew out ol sight again, not ceasing his song, hut singing in private. Usually his lligllt is quite noisy, and he sits in the open so that you may note him as lung as you please. THE WARULER. • • l'ntil this visit I had neither seen nor heard the warbler on Knpiti. <>u this occasion, however. I both saw and heard it. first at Wharekolm, then in the Waterfall Valley, and then in the basin. I am quite satisfied that lhe birds come ami go; the short stretch ol water between the island and the mainland does not stop them, or certain of them. I have seen goldfinches and starlings on Kapili hclore; this time I saw, besides, chaffinches, yolInivliammers, sparrows, and heard n blackbird or thrush. Larks have always been there. The presence of lhe English birds on the island caused me to rein *inbi:*r a remark made by the fishermen at lhe month of the AA’aikatiae opposite. They said that lhe English birds were becoming quite common about their cottages; lhe lark sang all the year round, in summer ami winter, in sunshine* and in pouring rain. Thov also told me that two or three pairs of Mue herons nested along the island last season, and that they were becoming plentiful; you afterwards said the same. ”1 was pleased to see the him* pett-

guilt nesting, even if it was in your boat shed. The difference in the nature of the wok a and penguin was notable in this: the penguin was snappy when we wanted to see her egg; a wcka at a waterfall did not at all mind her clutch being seen, and even allowed herself to he lifted slightly for that

purpose. •■The skylarks share the lints with the pipits, of which I saw numbers, both tit ]'align lira and at AVlinreko--Im. ”