CORRESPONDENCE.

Otago Witness, Issue 2815, 26 February 1908, Page 86

CORRESPONDENCE.

I had "closed down correspondence on the laughing jackass, but as " J." k -such a close observer, and takes such an interest in our columns, X shall make him an exception. Mr G. M. Thomson, FX.B., and Dr Benham, T.R.S., have kindly answered " Schoolgirl's " inquiry, and "the inquiry of -another correspondent -whose letter ha« been misplaced. Will the correspondent -who «ent in the grub pick some out of the "bank, keep them, feed them— this means experimenting with a few,— and report progress? When correspondents get specimen* named

I should like them, If possible, to find out something- additional themselves. <J J. S.V' letter will be referred to next Week. I shall try to get named by then the grub sent in from a pupil of the Balolutha High School and " Scrub's" "beaat." Dear "ifagister",— l am going to say a little about the mysterious bird the laughing jackass. Twenty-three years ago I w«» camped at Machine Creek, in Central Otago, tuadt the jackass was plentiful there then. I was very anxious to get one. I lay out many » night to try to get one. I have seen them sweep past me in the "tiark at a great rate, but I n«ver shot on«. But does " Old Timer" think that is the habit of an owl? I have watched them at Home and abroad, and I have always found them _clow in their movements, gentle in their flight, and without ft smile on their face. If the laughing jackass is an owl, it differs from all other owls. Is th» laughing owl unknown or known? Is its appeejrance.like the other owls, tlie horned owl, or morepork, with its blunt appearance and; large eyee? If bo, it is not a fast-flying i bird. It is not feathered for fast flying ox winged for speed. Th« Jackass has the flight of a petrel or an ocean bird, but since it bas become scarce it looks like a land bird. Flying into wire fences and telegraph wires ' will make it scarcer. There are many day , birds which get killed that way as well as ' night birds. I have known black game — ' grouse and partridge— get killed* with the telegraph wires. I had a goatsucker brought to me by a gamekeeper. It had flown into a telegraph wire. He got it on his rounds. The goatsucker is a, very strange bird, and has the appearance of a swift. — I am, etc., J., Eimu. — Museum. February 10. The grub is thttt of a beetle (Ciciadela tuberculata), dark green, with pale yellow sides, about half an inch long. Tli« grub lives in holes in vertical faces of embankments and cuttings — commonly seen. The spider thing is a " Harvestman," whose long legs adapt it to wia-lk over grass, between the blades of which it would otherwise fall down. Its name is Pantojsslis coronata. — I am, etc., W. B. Benham. Tiger Hill, near Alexander S., January 24. Dear "Magieter", — I have come up here for a holiday. It is very dry end barren and rooky» here. The lady I am staying with gets the Times, so you see I can still get your " Public School's Columns " to read. They are very interesting I think. Strange to aay, there are many seagulls up here. We axe a rai'e from our nearest neighbour. Please, Magister, would you tell me th» names of the little sprigs I have enclosed. I found them growing wild. I must close now. — I am, etc., Schoolgirl. Dear "Magister ", — The pink-flowered plant is known as Herb Centaury (Erythrosa centauriun). It belongs to the natural order of the Gentians, and, like nearly ell plants of the order, is bitter. * That is why cattle leave it standing among the grass. It is a i European species, which is now common in , pastures in air parts of New Zealand. The j small fragment of white-flowered plant is Gypspphil* elegans. It has probably spread from some garden in the neighbourhood, as i it ia commonly grown aa a garden annual. — 1 I am, etc., Geo. M. Thohson. -j