OF NATURE'S SWEET SPIRIT

NZ Truth, Issue 1196, 1 November 1928, Page 6

OF NATURE'S SWEET SPIRIT

MANY a man, could he but shear the taint of affectation from his outward attitude, would frankly admit an abysmal ignorance of the creatures of the outdoors— the names and habits of birds; the peculiarities of plant life which he rapidly passesin his motor-car; the many queer creatures which crouch m the underbrush as the train whizzes over the metals. A few miles out of Napier lives W. H. Guthrie-Smith, a man gifted with a mind of fine culture— a mechanism which has prompted^him. to share with passers-by a priceless example of nature's bounty. - the farm which he has named "Tutira"— which also is the title of his most engrossing book on bird-life m our Dominion— fringes the mam road out of Napier, and' quite near the roadway is a remarkably fine lake which has been declared a bird sanctuary by its owner. The passer-by often is amazed, bythe delightful intrigue of coloring m the plumage of multifarious birds he sees on the lake shores, and. the thought must course through his mind:, '< What a pity there. are so few men like Guthrie-Smith,, who, with wealth to reinforce him, gives^us such an example of nature m its most inspired mood." Scattered throughout New Zealand must be many similar properties capable of lending their inherent virtues to the beautifying of our country highways. What an inducement for world -travellers to see jJJ The country, mark you, not the. sweltering confinements of tpwn thoroughfares.. Although a Fellow of the New- Zealand Institute, an ornithologist whose companionable works on bird -. life have sustained him as an authority, there is a retreating attitude, about Guthrie-Smith— a hesitancy to be bothered with the artificialities of townsmen— that . rests pleasantly upon the identity of 'ddfer men, such as he. . ■■-..•■..■":.'. What a pity that he is. one of the few, who, themselves achieving the utmost m. simple pleasure, give all to'their fellows, shuddering at the suggestion -of mercenary, return, afraid almost that men will eulogise, their nobility of enterprise. ■' : '■ •.; ..'..;. ■ ; \ ,-' ''• •'"" ■"■••;'* '■ ./ ': O' '

What a loss to our national equipment that their numbers are thus restricted. Whatan opportunity for;other men to emulate .them. ,