THE ANCIENT TUATARA.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLII, Issue 2110, 1 April 1920, Page 4

THE ANCIENT TUATARA.

HOLDING ITS OWN. REPORT FROM STEPHEN’S ' ISLAND. Every effort continues to be inude by the Government to protect Tuatara, the lizard-like animal, described ‘‘as the last remaining scion of grey old nobility belonging to times previous to the origin, of birds, before the Archaeopteryx undertook its first flight/'* Fears that the ani-

mal might not: be holding its own are set at rest by a report received by the Minister of Internal Affairs from the principal lightkeeper at Stephen’s Island, in which the writer says: “I wish to report that I consider' the Tua turns are fully holding their own, in fact, I should .say they are, if anything, slightly more numerous than they were three years ago. Several times when I have been digging my garden patches in the bush I have turned up nests of Tuatara’s eggs, which I have carefully replaced in the ground for hatching. Last year in August 1 turned up a cluster of seven eggs, in a patch of ground that l:(id lain fallow for a year. The spade had cut one of the eggs, and there was a living Tuatara in it fully formed. The eggs were six inches below the surface, and the ground was firm and overgrown with, weeds. There was no burrow or outlet from the eggs to the surface of the ground. The welas, bottles, ground spiders, etc., which no doubt form the food of the Tuatara, are very plentiful on the island. “With regard to tour Department’s decision to cease paying for hawks destroyed on this island, I wish to stale that tlie hawks visit tlie island in great numbers during the months of March and April. The two assistant-keepers laid themselves our to destroy the hawks, and worked very hard with their traps, catching the hawks in great numbers on tin- hillside near the top of the island. 1 know that the hawks prey on the tuatara, as (lie following incident will show. I was out with the gun one day, and was standing in a little clump of trees, waiting to get a shot at a hawk, when .1 heard a swishing sound of a hawk swooping to the ground, and turned just as i! rose in the air. I fired and missed it, but it dropped a small tuatara about eight inches long, which fell on a tuft of grass, and ran to cover unhurt . “The wild eats, wlih-li i consider to be the greatest enemy (be tuatara has on (his island, appeal' to me to be slightly on the increase, though still not very numerous. However, when the price per head was increased to five shillings, Assisi antKeeper spent most () f his spare time hunting them, and brought me the tails of fourteen between tin 1 Ist October and 31st December.’’