THE BIRD SANCTUARY OF KAPITI.

Otago Witness, Issue 2817, 4 March 1908, Page 53

THE BIRD SANCTUARY OF KAPITI.

MR DRUMMOND'S IMPRESSIONS (From Ouk Own Correspondent.) WELLINGTON, February 27. Mr Drummond, of Christchuroh, wha went to study the bird life on Kapiti . i Island, off Waikanae, has returned to> civilisation. On Kapiti the tui sang to ' him by day and the w«ka cried out in the. night. For six days and nights he hadi the Kapiti sanctuary to himself, and, far. • away from the talk about Webb and* * Tresidder, he- was able to watch the wild* things in the- home which the Government • has made sacred for them. Talking with* • a Post representative to-day, Mr Drum-i mond mentioned that the birds were all> flourishing, especially the robins, which' were once thought to be dying out. The> little white-heads may be eeen by the hundreds. Buller stated that he shot the last of this species and did not leave a repre-' - tentative of this pretty bird — something like a canary with a white head,— but hewas wrong for once. Tuis, too, are numerous. The parakeets recently intro-< duoed from the southern islands and the ! flightless ducks from the Auckland Islands have taken kindly to their new home. The birds have only one natural enemy, the wild cat,*whieh is unnatural from the birds', point of view, for the pest was imported.' .The animal will require extinction, other\ wise thejjjrds generally, and the flightier duok3 particularly, will be in for sad days by-and-bye. Even on wild Kapiti the Roads Department is represented. The executive • officers and the workers are goats — wild goats. They have cut tracks all over the landscape. The tribes are many, and with " their omnivorous mouths and active hoofa they have cleared passages in all direc-' tions. They have made the inner recesses ( very accessible, but at great cost to the , flora. The undergrowth has been denuded' 1 till the stems of the trees stand up bar* >N - | like the monarchs of the Australian wooda.< , This clearance among the trees gives the forest a character foreign to all other areas of New Zealand bush. The goats' destruction of vegetation in Kapiti is not deeir* able, but the animals' presence might be beneficial on spots which are not so sacred.i , Here is a chance for tho long-headed tc* work out a scheme for the proper exploit tation of the goat as a pioneer, an agent* for securing space for grass and simultane-- - oualy saving the big timber for better pur-< poses than fire, which, after all. docs its clearing work very roughly. The other. day, states Mr Drummond, the forest of the sanctuary was threatened with ruina- 1 tion by fire, and if the flames had gained) a grip it would have been good-bye to the 1 bird*. Maoris hold 1300 of the 6000 acres enclosed by the Kapiti coast. A fire started; on the Natives' grass lands, . and swepfa away to the fringe of the forest. There,' by a lucky chance, it died away. It is considered that the sanctuary will not ba safe if the Maoris are allowed to remain) in occupation. It is contended that the* Government should secure possession of thei whole island, otherwise th« purpose of the present reservation might be defeated any day. for at all times the herbage is like 1 tinder. An ember, a match, carelessly, dropped might set the whole place ablaze.

A Masterton dairy farmer possesses a dog which is gifted with almost human . intelligence. It musters the cows alone- ' and after yarding them in the waiting yard, scana them eagerly, appearing for all the world as if counting them. At the annual dinner of the UnP"~ versity College Colston Society, Mr 0. A. Wills, president, announced that his father Mr H. O. "Wills, the well-known tobacco manufacturer, had promised £100,000 tot wards the endowment of the University for Bristol and the Wset of England, provided that a charter be granted within two ■ jears. ' , . The O lo Ekele&ia o le Faapotopologa o le Au Taatuatua i Samoa has been, formed in Malua, Samoa. In other words, it is "The Church of the Body of Believers in Samoa." / International and intercolonial arrange ments fpr 'the mutual protection of patent* and , trade marks, with descriptions of patents registered, appear in tie last Gazette