Seabirds and Seals.

Manawatu Herald, Volume III, Issue III, 16 September 1890, Page 2

Seabirds and Seals.

The Petitions have reoommpii'lerl that* lporisl^tive action ought imra°di'at< i ly to he t-* Icon to con. tro and 'imit the destruction of birds seals, nnd oth°r animals frequenting the CHntham Islands, the Sharps, the L^rd Aupb'nn^ Gi"np, Camphell Island, \ ntipodes la'and, and the Bounf-v G~nnn, as those are the home and breeding resort n{ many 'fin-^s of sea ••ivds, and i f persons are al owe Ito boil down th Q penguins Mi^y will shortly be exterminated and the means of support of oastaways wou'd he desfr <yeft.

It appears tli='t a Mr Hat^hisrauch Miteivste 1 in getting the oil of tho^e iiirda «hich machine workers are vfivv gad to have.

It is asser ed that almost a'l these p->a-birds known as nvitt m-bir 's, penguins, tarns, qull^, albitrosses of various specie- 1 are almost absolutely holnless \y\w\ on land, and ar~> nnible to wape and bare y attempt to »sc^pe capture. The penguins fon £r°a'ftte in what are kn >wn as rookevi&s, where numbers varying from a few hundreds to many thousands are to b^ found. They lay their egrs on the bire ground. The nurture of tlipir yo'in<? ker-ps them nb^u* the 'and fo>- the greater part of th p year. Mvt f nn birds md va'ioua kinds of pet el and other birds burrow in the soft Ground and Mere 'ay eggs Al batross<-g lav their egG[s in easy accessible places on the hills. E-'ch fenvili> bi'*d lays one eg?. Their voun« vpmain on shore f>r a year

efor-° th°v can fly. It was estimated that on all those is'ands there •verenot more than six million birds an* that it would tak" but a very qlio-t timo to destiny th^m aU.

The value of th» oil was estimated t'> he worth sixpence a penguin. In fie islands und r crmtr >1 of Tas mania tin birds are nearly all destroyed from this can p.

Captain FairchiH reported that the fur-seals aro almost cone alto sfe'her fmm th^se islands, but the s°a li n is num tous. Th«v ai-e. worth about £1 each for skin an<i oil. Th^y do not brppdfiisl. It Ins nor been th'Miiht worth any onp.'n 1 while t > kill the soa lions. Besides, the? a<-e not so easy to 'ill as the fur soal. Whei go no; after the fur seal you need not take anything hut your knife and a club. You culd not destroy a se> 'wri so easily. There ar> millions of t^em on the itlau '8 at one time of the year thoy are a^ thick as sWp in a paddock at thot parfiftilar season. Y-<n c-nin^t wa k ovpr the grass in sr.fpfy without e'earin* 'hnm out of your way. Yon must carry a st ; ck w'th v>u to n'ea>* them out of yonr mad. Th'-re i«. Iruvevpr, one is and off Westnort wliere the fur s°al is fitill tirotrv numerous Ve^ple d : d n^t ?o to kill sp.ais thpre when the law pro tpcted th^m. Thos* 1 who wou'd havo done so were aware that th«y would be in sight of the people of fhe town of W"Btnort and of the Ctpe Foqlwi' d Lighthouse near thp.ro There t,he seals nro broeding fast. T counted fifty-four tlun" 1 la^t Fe'-vnavv. ' hat ia the o-<ly island that I know , of wbera they are left in any oon-

Fidoi-Hole number. They are breeding there midd ing fast Th' 1 fur spal wi 1 not come near where people are : it is such a shy animal that wherever man lives he will not go ; even when they are not molested, they do not care to live if men ive near tin place. With the sea-lion it is different : he will -ive in your garden ii you et him al ne But the fur-sea — the moment ha smells your presence he is off like a shot. He do'-s not cure about coming back to that place if people are living beside him. Ibe ieve the fur-oeal lived as far north as New Pymouth in the early days; but he wi 1 not live where pope are living if he cau help it. The va!ue of the fur-seal's skin is about £8 for the undressed skin in London ; but the price has fallen to 2 and even £l the last few years ; £l 5s is paid for dossing. The reason of the fa 1 in price is because so many rabbit-skins have taken their place. The sea-eVpbants, if they are not pro ected, will soju be worked out. We have none of them, b«it on the Tasmanian islands they are to be found in thousands. We hare sea* leopards, sea- ions, fur-seal*, but not one saa-elephant. The Ma quaries are full of sea-elnphaDts But the sea elephants are more helpless than any other. You have no hing to do but go along and lance as mauy as you wish in a day : you may kill as many in a day as wouM take you three or four days to remove. In many places they are not as uumei" ous as they were ; and in these places, I believe, people engaged in this usiness are trying on with the penguins, because the sea-elephanti have become scarce. It is a pity that Tasmania does not protect them. Ii not protected they must soon bo wiped out altogether. The'-e is one place on the west side of Mucquurie Inland where they reckoned upon 200 tons of sea-elephant oil if they could land there to take it; but they did not s icceed, because they were not able to put down their launch. When the people ongaged in this trade have exhausted the Macquaries there is little doubt they wi 1 try the islands belonging to New Zealand l,r penguins and und albatrosses. If the boi ing* down system is adopted, in a fnw years after that the^e birds will be wiped out altogether.

Seme of the sea-elephants are 25ft long ; they are pretty nearly as big as b ack fish, but they are very help less ; they can hardly move ; it will take t»n minutes lor one of them to go a chain ; they aie easily de* gtioved.

The sea'leopardg are very numer ous on the Macquarie Islands, and there are a few to be found on the Auckland and Campbell Islands. Their only value would be their skin and oil. They are muc!: smaller than the sea lions, and wo'i d not bo worth more than 10a or 11s each. Th<>y would very -oon bee >ra§ extinct if they wer* treated as the sea - e ephants have been treated on the Maoquaries daring the ! a3t ten years — by being boi'ed down for their oil.