MYSTERY VISITOR

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume 52, Issue 32306, 30 August 1943, Page 7

MYSTERY VISITOR

I FRIEND OF THE BIRDS I DEADLY TREE PRUNED } ACTION IN NEW PLYMOUTH ; Some mysterious person every 3 year this season breaks off the I branches of a “bird catching” tree | in Pukekura Park, New Plymouth, so that it cannot flower and trap any birds or insects. The tree is situated in the Fillis street native botanic reserve of Pukekura Park and was plented several I years ago. Since that time some unI known person has broken the branches ever year at about this tibe to prevent the tree from flowering. The sulprit is thought to have been some 'bird-lover who objects to the presence of the thre because of its danger to ■birds during its brief flowering sea- ■* son. So far this year the unknown visitor has not called. There are only two trees of this variety at the park and one of them is 30 to 40' years old and does not flower. This tree is situated on the edge of the lawn near the lower lake in the park and is about 18 feet high. The other tree in the Fillis street re- ' serve is younger and smaller and is growing healthily, and if it is not damaged this year will flower for the first time. Known as Pisonia Brunoniana, or para para, the “Hird catcher” is a native of New Zealand, New South Wales, Queensland and the Kermadec Islands. In New Zealand it is found near Whangarei, Ngunguru, Great and Little Barrier Islands, Cabbage Bay and East Cape. It is a coastal tree, and, because it will not withstand many degrees of frost, does not grow successfully more than three miles inland or in the South Island. Small Birds Trapped With its large, glossy green leaves 8 the tree is very picturesque, but it is g in the flowers that the principle inter- § est is centred. Growing in green ® clusters, they exude a sticky, gluting ous substance from the fruit or seed a pod, and sometimes small birds get | entangled and cannot extricate them- § selves. Even a native owl has been g known to get caught, but the trapped § birds are mostly the small variety, | shch as silver-eyes, sparrows and fan- § tails. •j Those who have watched the tree § closely have observed that most of § the birds that some in contact with it | manage to free themselves, but often § lose a feather or two in their strug’- § gles. These birds varry the seed with g them and the feathers are ultimately | blown and scattered by the wind and S so th eseed is distributed—nature’s | way of providing for the future. I The flowering season and the dan- £ ger to birds lasts about three weeks. § When an article appeared in the | Taranaki Herald in 1932 on the “bird < catching” tree intense interest was y aroused from one end of the country 5 to the other. Scores of letters were | received in New Plymouth from naturg alists, bird lovers, gardeners, wheat y growers, representatives of societies •) and associations of all sorts, some 5 .wanting seed to grow trees for bird | catching purposes and others con- | demning all and sundry who dared to £ plant ’ it. It may be that, 'as a result of this controversy in New Plymouth, some ' bird lover determined to take the mat- ( ter in his or . her own hands, which would account for the yearly visits to the Fillis street reserve and the broken branches of the defenceless “bird catching” tree.