IN TOUCH WITH NATURE

Hokitika Guardian, 14 May 1925, Page 3

IN TOUCH WITH NATURE

AN AUSTRALIAN VISITOR. (U\ .1 Drummond, F.L.S.. F.Z.S. in l.vUeltol! '•Tillle>".l Rains have keen taken by Mr E. L. Ixebec. i,| (Irev mouth, and hi- friends to identify a stranger, whose presence vv a„ r,'ported by him at Cameron's, on the Wr-t ('oast, a lew weeks ago. He lias s i,i a photograph ol the bird, snapped ai Rotouialiu. on the western shore of i.nke Brunner, some twenty mile- bv road and launch from (.'union.n'-. Tl:e photograph disproves a si ll ini- e that it i- a still belonging to either New Zealand or Australia. Mr Kelli e believes that it i- an Australian White ibis. He is guided in this by a description of that species by Dr. J. A. Leach, an eminent Australian ornithologist. and lie suggests, on tile principle of auguries irom the tliglil- of birds in ancient Rome, that this Australian timed its ilight across the 1 asman Sea with the Victorian cricketers' visit In New Zealand.

In this utilitarian, vvork-a-day world, augurs have no credit : w ars and cric|;rl matches are undertaken without consulting “the immortal, illustrious lords ~| the air.” as Aristophanes described birds, but the white ibis should 11,, v. eh oincd in a land that lias no jldo's of il- own. because it is a bird ol wood retort. It protects crops and dost rovs inserts w boh -ale. cleaning di--I rie|, loeii-t s. “take-alls”, harvest- , aterpiibirs and oilier enemies ~| Hi" Australian larmer. A dock ol "bite j|, i-.es suddenly appears in a district and settles on an area of ground narked bv the beat, which crickets have found a suitable abode. Tile ibises I'oed oil tlm insects for hours. Crickets that escape disappear into He cracks. The ibises go to a fresh area. The crickets 111 the first area, finding. Dial their destroyers have gone, com,' oat to graze. Back come the ibises, to make a further clearance on Hint moa. Working in that wav forwards and backwards, they do the job thoroughly, lew crickets remaining at the end. I" ■i district near a Victorian railway station. there was a splendid cron of malU

ina barley. When it was almost ripe, .■very bead was cut olf by harvest caterpillars. Ibises in the autumn lame, not ill battalions or regiments, hut m arm v corps, and stayed for lli;. winter, and for three years hardly ~ single harvest-caterpillar was seen m t |„. p| ; This tribute is paid to the while ibi-es not by a soft-hearted hirer of birds, hut by a hard-headed farmer

and politician. when Mr Kehoe wrote on April 9 the visitor seemed content to stay near

Rotomami. It was very tame or very tired when photographed, and the eamt.was within about 10 levt ol d For those wbo like Greek words better Ilian English ones. Air Kehoe supplies its other name: Threskimnis Ainlluea. his letter contains a quotation wind.

seems to show that modern investigators regard the white ibis as identical

with the sacred ibis cl Egypt, a (cmki ate.l bird, dedicated to the moon-god and well w.o tbv of the honour <J mummification and Of a place in ancient hmiplcs with kings and queens. Murks , U . P t he ibises’ closest connections. Even Ihev are not represented in the stritngc-lv-a'-sorted avifauna of this "Dominion. Winch i.s exeltided IT one ol the prettiest of the Old AYorlcl tables, as tbo arrival of the stork can carry no conviction to voting minds in a bind devoid of storks.