CORRESPONDENCE. Dunedin, August 16.

Otago Witness, Issue 2895, 8 September 1909, Page 84

CORRESPONDENCE. Dunedin, August 16.

Dear " Magister."-P«rh»p» it is June now for me to law "Alpha's" «ttf*b«n to » Sribus error P^tratcd bylnm m hxs interesting- co»s»ibutK«i at Augoet 6. In his cau^ I *> hot mdvi*e tt» recording of observations, etc. Well.' by referring to uiy leSd article he will ™J^*J°J*£ 6 twm«ly ad*** th* doing of that bwm. I« proof positive, he» is H» P^^SJJ* B^" "I maysay hope that one of the best boofcs tlie joung Nature student o»n own. is * »»*- s^ed caVtridge-paper ' «k.tctbook. In it drawinga and diagrams, however ro^te, n<aif be male, «nd not«t written tfcpat to»gs » they ocane vca&mt. notice. Stteh a l»ok wiU soon come to ba, Joofcect as * trewure by its- owner.' That, I hope, wiH -coayinc© ""Alpha," to whom all good •vrumea from DiHOitNis. Fift— l notice great call lately for "signs of sprinc" records, d»tea -of «owenng, »nd so an. Now. in » place like tfci», where mosj of Ute B«tiv« plants are evergreen, and where -many intrcduced ptetnts will blcoga. beantifuHy in mid-winter, and where *Iso eome'-cf both introduced and aative pUnts are winter bloomers, wh»t is io » learns from records of that kind? The "first P«mrose" can hardly be nominated in » locality when aH are garden varieties and none*wjl<L All through the winter primrose^ jurm been blooming on the shady sid» of Waßfcer sfcreftt, Ducedin, and in many other place» »I«o. A. montth ago I was shown several magnificent hyacinths in foil bloom, alao ixi«s, etc.. all growing untended in the open. Kowhai in flower I gathered on the roadside at Broadt Bay on June 23— -Inid-wmter.— also native leafless broom in full flower at the came tfzneand place. On the east coast of Scotland Hut laburnum is an early summer bloomer; out late in autumn I have seen, on the same trees, isolated spikes of fully developed flowers. Were these and the kowhai winter blooms early or late? My own opinion is that such instances (and they are' common* merely represent belated strajgglers of the flower-bud product of any given tree. In some cases these belated bucte are destroyed by the rigorous cold of winter, in others (often io this region of mild and flabby winter) they develop out of season. Except as instances of trivial defect in development, swayed by seasonal variation, such aberrations appear to have little importance. The plant should produoe all ite flowers at the right time; it ought to know better than trot them out in off seasons; only "should" and ** ought " have no meaning here. Things are as tEey are, variation is omnipresent, also often- umtttelligent and in effect u£e!ess<— Dihobhis. Dear "Misaster," — The Maori Invasion of , Otago, via Haaet Pass. In reply to request in paragraph two from end I send the following : — In 1856-7, when at " OakkaiuV," about six miles from Glenbam, which my, brother, tbe Hon. G.F.8., selected in 185*, and my father took up in 1859, I w*s told that Mainai (pronounted " My-ny "), a slave of Bloody jack's, who had been token prisoned when Baupahara's contingent www hokecT, said that the battle took place at the juno-

faori of fee HApokaztzni, or, as we oalled it, ' BukawaAi (?), and the Titi*» Greeks. Mama*— i« was baaed by " Toby " to my bro&er-in-law (F. I*. Melville, Gienham Station) — Also said that H&k&ponini meant " the place of broken heads." I remember that at the spot indicated there were nwan-bers of modern Maori ovens, where, presummbJy, the conquerors hed cooked tie mope tende? of the , vanquished. Bekoo, chief ai Mataura, and > his wives are dead— they knew all about it; but I think some- persons qualified to give reliable information about the figlft may yet be found at Toetoea, Eiverton, or Ru&pake, to which isHisid tt» joevra at the approach, of the enemy waa conveyed to "Toby" by two Mataur* pa Maoris, who hastened down the river to Toet-oes and- .crossed ov«r in a canoe. Old Mrs Chicken (TikeneJ or H. Matien (Matthews), Pukiterski, may also be able to give particulars of the fight. Referring to Mamai, it may interest your readers to know that, as a he had annually to present himself to " Toby " (Topi) at Buapuke, aid hand over everything he haa rrom ius master except the clothes he stood up in. J. R. Otokia., August 19. • _ Dew " Magister,'' — I sent you a few questions; and 1 have answers to all but one — . that is, in regard to the starling on wkich I thoaght eoßiepse -mig&t- hjrve )ra& something -to say. My reason for asking is this:. Tiiete is a large, rookery of tfeem here living in the "" bluegtims in- winter mad. shifting in ike summer to the willows efcmt 300 yards aw4y. Wfeen ail birds arc in fall Besting thexe axe inmdTeds of them, mud- they go 1 away every morning, and -itftura to roost j every night. Now, tixeee do sot breed, that is sure, and I Jiav«. often wondered H they , /were males or females, or if they were old birds of both sexes, past the age of Breeding. I never find a jdead one under the trees, although I find them deed in the 1 fields, often wrtfcout anything to show what caused their death. I fancy it is old age. ' I saw a pair of thrushes building their., nett to-day in the garden. They are a fort- j nigiii later than 4ast year. Th© kingfishers are still here, and tomtits and wrens are here again. There wms- others who saw sparrows carrying feathers on the same day as I did. Did anyone notice that two days later we h*d enow, and for two days it was bitterly cold? They were^seen doing tiie same lust Monday. I have h»d a note on this from three different ones, also clippings from j newspapers to show me that they do so be- | fore tnowy weaihex comes on, so, - Magister," you will see that your columns are doing good, as • - Ornithologist " said he was sure they were. I will go further than that -and say that if you had not taken Nature study and given us the- Public Schools' Column the rising gee-aration would hardly have ' know a turkey cock from a swamp hen. I only msh w* had a «lub, or yon Had -.me in Dunedin. I cannot see why there can't be a d,ub goTSup in Dunedin, if only to meet once or twice in a year. Look at the draughts match, Town versus Country. Every year playexß come from *all partf of the country. For myself,' I have not missed a match fsr. the lasl 30 years. When there was. one on, if you had a club \tfaey would com« to it jusi the same, and you would hea- of things that -we cannot write about. ] August 20. I had finished my note for you last nighV hut to-day I saw a very large bumble bee, • yellow and blcck— no white at all. I made . a start to dig the garden to-day, and I ' oame across a ■ number of wetas of different sizes. It was whil« examining them that . the bee flew round me, anQ then past on ; through the trees. It is the earliest I have r ever seen. I caught three on the 523 th of \ May last, so you wilL Eec it is not three i months— a short sleep this winter.— Yours, a well-wisher J- Shoeb. Bluespur, August 19. Dear "Magister," — The following is a list of native plants which I, -with others, observed last week to be getting ready to flower this month or next : — Coprosma, pittosporum, kowhai, nothopanax, fuchsia, *nobramhie. Of these only the- fuchsia and nothopanax show 1 open flowers, the latter the most On the mmnnka there have been a few blossoms all. through the winter. -No"ihopanax is also called the broad-leaved panax. Its relative, tho panax ferox, has long narrow leaves of very different shapes on the same tree. 7 Yesterday morning I saw eleven hrovm beetles in a bucket which was standing beside a hawthorn hedge. Evidently •fchif had flown into the bucket for eheiter, and couldn't get out again. I think these j beetles are the mothers of the white grubs ■which are very destructive. A few days ago I noticed some anemone bulbs had not com© up, and, on digging two up to we what v*x wron- with them, I found that some of their shoote had been eaten by these noxious mlezi* which had then curkd up and gone to steep beside the bulbs Weasels stoats and poison have destroyed the mght *£f n f Dear " Mafiister,"-I think the bird seen i -which comes anywhere near has description, j Th" point is the size, which is really half thai of the thrush, hut as he saw the bud on two occasions only he might easd y be ( mistaken. What I*m r*lymg on is the greln back, the ctarkly-spotted br«wt-*l to- | ILtancTour cuokoo's breast looks d«k.y r spotted: it is in reality streaked with green aid grey alternately. The wmgs are long, reaching to within calf an inch of the end of the tail— much longer than those of the , -tttile oan*ries aud creepers. Finally, it has exactly the whist!* cr call Hugh Sprott describes, and as it is a ahy bwd and keeps much to itself, it is lar more often heara . than seen. It is great news to hear that whiteheads were common at Waikopiro est y< Ln re little owls, did you notice the re- < marks made by speakers at the conference in Canterbury? You will remember I stated my reasons for not being afraid of the depredations of the tew birds turned out oy om ( local Acclimatisation Soc-ety, and I wel- , oomed tihe work that would be done in the way of helping to shift tibe sparrow pest ■ It is quite » ddferent stccy to suggest getting , them birds in in fifties and hundreds cad turning them loose among our small dimanish- i ing birds. Thoe» who asked for full in- i formation on tihe subject oefore deciding i were quite right. T^et tbem go slow befote bringing in more enemies. Ab someone else said, why not import wolves to keep down th rabbits?— l am, etc., Obotthologist. KaJcanui, August 22. Dear "Magister," — During the past few weeks I hay« been interested with the visits of a pair -of warblers andia kingfisher. From | time to time I have noticed kingfishers on the Kakanui Bridge, where one may be seen J

now and again patiently waiting his chance of geting a dainty mouthful; but twice during too winter I have noticed one watching a pool from the telegraph wire; and here I may cay that on the fiat between Maheno ££-d Ka-ksumi there- are a number of pools averaging a square chain in size -widen ttem as if the subsoil -was too bard to allow water to "escape. The bird would remain in th*" same plao£ a couple of hours, darting down at toe water at intervals. I was unable to ass what i-t got. The warblers - "would fly ahead of my trap, even as a groundlarg. only keeping to the gorse bushes instead of the centre of the road. To-day I noticed a pair as if mating. The whistling was * delight to one -who rambled the wild parts of Dunedin as Avis. Clinton, August 21. Hear " Magister," — Your column proves every week mcae interesting to students of Nature. The various tetters about the habitj cf our native birds prove that there are a good number of keen observers amongst our young people. I r«*d with interest those letters on the fan tail, and recaJled hew when we wero scaoolchildr«n the. bust used to have a great attraction for us, and bow fantails, robias, and .tomtits used to gather round. I have not seen a robin for a good few years now, alihcrogh I »pect over a year an the borders of tfee bush. It wae vary interesting .to watch, the shining cuckoo, but - I was never fortunate enough to find where it laid its eggs.,. The fan tails sometimes came in at tL* open door end caught the fles on tbe window. The beQßird 'in ila eager se&rch for spielers and fUes -would sometimes mate a mistake and fly into "the room. It seems to feed its young on the spiders, etc., which it finds in the cracks of the wwll. Did any of your correspondents «ver see tnis bird killing other smaller birds ? I am cot ror« if the bellbird, green tui, and mc-ko are just different names for the seme bird, but perhaps scmeone might enlighten me. It appears to have a grudge against the' wjureye, and attacks it savagely just for the sake of Trilling it apparently. I spent three months at . tihe beginning of winter in Dunedin Hospital, *nd now and then we used to have a visit from the fantails. They would come in by the window of the ward, flying from end to end of the room, picking the flies off the roof. We r«td of the wax against the housefly in America, of the millions cf disease germs carried by a single fly, how typhoid is spread by its agency. As I lay there fighting the typhoid fever I blessed the fantails and wondered bow many germs they swallowed with those irritating little flies.— l am, etc., Lex.