WANDERINGS IN WESTLAND

Hokitika Guardian, 27 February 1930, Page 2

WANDERINGS IN WESTLAND

NOTES ON BIRD-LIFE IN THE WEST COAST SOUNDS.

(By Richard Henry).

(Road bo lore the Wellington Philosophical Society, 13tli October, 1897.)

(Continued.)

No doubt the wcka is a finished thief ; but he is not a fighter, because his wings are useless, and, his courage

is very little better for that purpose. The little teal arc terrors to fight "with each other, and then they make their wings crack like whips, so that they could easily drive lift' a wclta; and as for a “paradise/* 0 - she could kill one if she caught hold of it—but that would be the trouble. ; There are wekas on Resolution Island, and when I saw this one’s talent I feared for the mother kakape, who has to do all the nesting herself, until I remembered that she stays at home during the day and only goes to feed at night, when the wekas are mostly tired. This habit she can thank for the very existence of her race.

We have spent a great deal of time clearing for grass, in the Hope of fostering paradise chicks. We were inclined to foster, wekas- also,i and were fortunate jrr’haying ! the 1 / experience; with the goose’stiftest, ; We; might have worked for a certain failure. Now, if I get!the ducks the Maori hen) will have ( jpl leave Pigeon 'lsland. Witli'fall:-their'intellect they have weak; pojjl^iW for. the strangers will walk up and put their .beads in a snare when-you. bold them out a bait} on i% point; ‘of, a'.jstjiek -, and all those who are;inear! at; .liaijd will come out and show themselves, while those that are far away are often calling out to tell where they are. I was always friendly to the poor old wekas. and thought them well worth developing, and I am very sorry to have to write them down so mischievous among their fellows. For all that they may turn out to he the most valuable pots in New Zealand. We saw them skipping alwut at dusk catching moths and beetles on the wing; and with their very great cleverness and their tireless activity, I think they would be -,dj cure- Tor ■ the codlin-nioth’s in orchards. There was some talk ojf importing ]:>nts from England for thjat purpose-rjujt a- bat is, a. mammal that might catch flies ; impr an anthrax-carcase and, then fly away ; over fences and rivers to drop the germs of disease or die among healthy stock; and',if we only knew enough about their migrations in the Old World the flight of disease might not appear so mysterious. In Victoria 1 knew where many hundreds of bats, perhaps thousands, used to sleep in a great old hollow tree, and often smv them streaming out of there in

the evening like a swarm of bees. They were easily caught in dozens with a piece of netting, and I found that every one carried a .variety of very visible parasites, and perhaps invisible ones, because they had an of-

fensive smell, They often hawk ior flies about' dwellings and animal camning grounds, so that they appear to be ideal mediums for collecting, exchanging, and distributing germs. A new race of hats invigorated by transportation might turn out the very worst importation for New Zealand. On the other hand, a weka is the easiest of all birds to inclose where it is wanted, also the easiest to catch, to keep, and to carry, and would be likely to, thrive well in its native land. If they only lived in England our fruitgrowers would be longing for them: but because they are at hand they are not much thought of in their own country. No doubt they will be eagerly inquired foil'll far-off countries if ever it is known that they have all the qualifications

required. •Since writing the above I find that they will kill each other’s young, and this, with the curious habit of leaving; them 'behind, makes it necessary that each pair, when breeding, should have a run of their own. and (be able to make it warm for all intruders. When the little ones are alarmed they pipe out a penetrating call for assistance, and then the old ones appear a« if by magic. Perhaps that is why the cunning rat did not eat them—he feared that shrill call and its consequences. When our chickens were about seven weeks old the mother handed them over to the father and took no more care of them, but went up on the hill behind the house, built another nest, and had three eggs in it partlv hatched on tbe 28th October. I took one of them to get the embryo for Or Parker, intending to take tbe others at different stages if I am at home. At this rate every gardener could breed as many as lie wanted. They can swim and dive well to escape, hut I never saw them in the wafer except on business. Tt is wonderful how they can dispose of food, for they seem to be never beaten either by quality or quantity. A few minutes " after a feast they are as

hungry as ever, and they get rolling fat very quickly. Our weka. looks after bis two big chickens during the day, bags food for them and hunts it upon the beach and anuarently gives them everything he gets. Sometimes he gives them a wigging and dieses them away—for schooling, I suppose—yet ho fights for them and lias many a lively run hunting away intruders, who sometimes chase them and make them scream for assistance. Then he snorts and coughs and his eyes glare with indignation as lie rushes about looking for the offender, who is often sly enough to

flip round a corner and make a boo line out of dangerous ground.

At the end of October this is his usual day’s work until some time in the afternoon, when ho goes up to the hill to the nest where his mate is hatching, takes her place, and lots her come out for food. If wo see her we give her plenty, but she is in no hurry returning, evidently confident that the eggs are safe in his keeping until she has had her outing at leis-

I wonder greatly they are such good managers il' t|iey cannot talk. Fancy him going up to the nest, if you can. and putting her off it without exchanging ideas about his object or intention, and without promising lo remain Until she returns. It is far ea'ior for me to imagine him saying, “Come out now and get something to eat; I will take care of the eggs until you return, and do not be in any hurry, because I am tired and will be. glad of a rest here,” 17th November.—This evening I wa s looking, at the antics of the woodhens when Scrag made a rush at something and then I heard a rat screaming in a big hole under a stump. The dogs also heard it, and I had just time to see the ueka drag out a rat when the dogs rushed in and killed the rodent, and I lost the chance of as great a treat as a bull fight. I know it would require the keenest activity for a weka to kil} a ra.t single handed, and am not sure that it could cm so: but the rat’s screams would be sure to attract another weka, and then I think the pair could manage it . quite easily, for one could hold 'while, the other stubbed, or both could tug 4 and pull, in which they seem to tnko h delight, and are very tenacious, so that the rat would be worked to death, This tenacity of hold is' quite unexpected from the shape of‘thie weka’s beak, but I have played with them by trailing a little fish on the'rod, and wus surprised how they .could hold on until I lifted thent off the ground. 22nd November. —We went to Breaksea Sound, and camped in a beautiful place called Beach Harbour, two miles east of Acheron Passage. We soon had tire Maori hens for comtpany, of course, and there were two grown-up chickens. They were all rather shy at first, but food soon opened the way to their friendship or gratitude. I throw an old fellow some crabs,, which he evidently took note of at once, for he followed me alhng the beach, and, after a few lessons, when I turned* over a stone and' he saw the crabs running he would come up and catch them himseli'i and liis example soon made the .others tame. Then I opened cockles • for him with my knife, and he would stand at my knee and eat them with more confidence than the Maori hen I had reared. But the reason I mention him at all is because he gave us an exhibition of his skill as a fisherman. Often I saw them fading in shallow water, but thought the fi«h too lively for them to catch. However, this one bought up several little fish as long as my finger, and paraded them about, calling his chickens t,o come for them, His neck and legs appeared to be. rather long, as if to suit that sort of work, and I saw him peeping cautiously round corners as if expecting shy game, so that he must have been an old hand at it: and probably his forefathers were fishermen, because the circumstances were suitable. With the isolation which these birds seem to crave, and indefinite time, it would not be hard to imagine the origin of a race of waders. In fact, the weka appears to be just the sort of bird to start with, because it will eat anything, and the little chickens are very hardy, with apparently a surplus of digestive power, which latter may be nearer the spirit of life than the old people used to think. If a tribe of wekas had abundance of any one sort of food either fish or fruit, 1 think they would be content with that, and become adapted for obtaining it; and with such material the simple laws we recently heard of could develop a variety of forms in accordance with the great variety of conditions, and the wonder is there are so few to fill them. Tn Australia I knew the rails that came there in the spring, when the corn was knee-high. They made their nests in clover bottoms, and I often found their eggs, which were just like the weka’s but much smaller of course. The chickens were also quite black like the weka’s, and the parents made the same sort of croaking noise when I went near their nest, but I do not remember their ordinary cry. They could fly well, but did iso unwillingly when alarmed, as if they preferred the long grass for refuge; hut a dog would make them fly, and then their style was like that of the swamp-hen. They were distinctly migratory, but I ’“ever heard where they came from, nor could f imagine any suitable place for them !n Australia during the dry season, because they seemed to like damp places. Then, if ever they came to New Zealand, it is no wonder they thought it a paradise, and, deciding to remain for ever, gave up living. And the wekas have still a trace of their old migratory habits, because they will risk their lives like the rats, and swim for miles to get- away out on some lonely island, far from their old homes and their persecuting neiglib nirs. And perhaps these two, with their colonising impulse and great digestive power, may represent advanced germs of the fauna of many lands (lo he continued.)