NATIVE WHITE CRANE.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXIV, Issue 4548, 9 April 1923, Page 2

NATIVE WHITE CRANE.

(To the Editor.) Sir, —i should like per medium of your columns to call the attention pi local nature lovers to the fact that a solitary specimen of our native white crane (Kotuku) has established itself within the last few days in our district. It has made -its home on the lower end of the island in the Wa’hou River some 50 yards or more above the Wharepoa Ferry crossing. It ranks among the rarest of our native birds, and is consequently strictly protected by law. The penalty for destroying or injuring this specimen would be a heavy fine or imprisonment. One finds it hard to realise that any so-called sportsman would dream of attempting to shoot such a rare and beautiful bird, but, neverthe less, when a solitary specimen appeared a year or two ago at Ellesmere, it was promptly “bagged” by some vandal. I. trust that merely to advertise this bird’s rarity should ne sufficient to make every person in the district a self-constituted guardian of its safety. Hoping, Sir, that as a lover of our fast disappearing native birds you will help .through your paper to safeguard the stranger. D. A. BATHGATE; Turua, April 5, 1923.