NATURE—AND MAN

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 2, Issue 340, 29 September 1932, Page 2

NATURE—AND MAN

Leo.

Fanning.) .

SONQ QF THE. TUI "f '' '*■ f ■„ '•*! . ' V ' > NATURAL AftTI HTMUSIC OF NEW ZEALAND BIRDS. HEARD IN THE BUSH.

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Thou singest of the Future, radiant TJirdJ Surely the Gods have lent thee saered flre And taug'ht thee songs forgotten or imheard By old -world men! Thou singest of Dcsire, Youth, and Higli Hope, and the, Infl^ity 01' all \ve dream the newer worlcls ?hay 1 be. Tribute of Dora Wilcox to New Zealand' s bell-bird. 1 , I It is well known th'at tuis and belL birds are mimics — particularly the tui, which is credited with ability to imitate the spitting Of an angry cat. This cl'svex'nesS is fexce'lled in' one jt'.espect by the long-tai'Ied cuckoo wl^oh comes to -NeW Zealarid in spring axjd depar.ts in ,t)ie Jate .summer, for this visitor is a ventriloquist, according to Mr. James Cowan. "This bir.d, called by the Maoris the koekoea, or kohoper.qa," he wi-ote, "is the arch-deceiver. "You may hear one quite close to you, in a tfee, but immediately he "detects your phesence h.o adopts prote'ctive tactics, The next shrill cuckoo call will come apparently from a d'istance, and you niay'imagine the bird to have taken fiight t'o the tree from wliich the cry seerhingly came. But JWx\ Ko'ekoea has not stifred; he is sitting as still as can be on the same brartfch, maybe watching you through its leaves to see how well he has fooled you."

Classic Recitals of Tuis. That' cuckoo rnight be termhd a vaudeville pxrformer on whom such a supreme artist as the soprano tqi could look with disdain. The tui anfl the bell-bird leave man the bother of writing elaborate musical scores. Th.e birds are content to sing them. Mr.

Johannes Andersen' has conlmented vory interestingly on those birds' na- ' tural knowledge of music, which' many candidates in competitions might well ; envy. • ' 1 "There are two striking differeiices in the song of birds," Mx*. Andersen says. "One is the wild wood song, : and gdes oix indeterminedly without ] 1'orm or phrase, and lxever repeats it- . sclf; the other is the art song1, which consists of definite and oft-repeated i themes. Most of the English birds > have the wild wood song, the striking I exception, perhaps, being the blaclcI bird, which is> strOngly imbued with art song. A German narned Stardler was sa impressed with the themes used by the blackbird that he wrote | a hook about them. The thrush, one I poet says, sings his song twice over, I but such is not the case. The thrush's j song is never the same, and certainly | he does not repeat a phrase. • I "New Zealand birds, for the most part, have the art song, and place their notes in order like a musician. Not only that, but they have repertoines, the same as human beings. V/hen they sing art songs they us6 pracHcally the same xixusical nOtation as we do. That is not at all impossible or illogical, as prohably we sang originally as the wild birds did, and so arrived at some form of notation. Like us, the birds use tones and Semir tone§, and sometim'es third and quarter tones such as occurred in the very old Maori music. "If the tui would always sing his le.sl there is not a bird bn the face cf the globe to touch him, but with his clear pure notes he will introduee ihos x mocking, harsh ones," concludes Mr. Andersen. "The records we have lieard of the English nightingale are lubbish alongside the lovaly song of Ihe tui. He has a range of four ocr taves and usUally sings in soprano register, but can soar two octaves above it. The tui can oecasionally be h'eard singihg duets with bell-birds, another artistic songstfer to be h'eard to advantage up the Wanganui Rivex\ There I have heard the tui begin a theme, and the bell-bird complete it very cleverly, the tui bringipg in his harsh low notes as bass to the bellbirds song. The bell-bix'd sings definite themes and can elaborate theip with yariations. The singing is usually done-by the females. Birds, hs f rule, have xxo emotional feeling in their song, but when the male bellbird sings there is nothing like his voice for feeling." . . .. Another Story of the Kea. Mr. A. P. Harper, a well-known mountairfeer, te'lls some very interesting stories of the frolics of keas in the Alps. "When a turkey coclc arrived at Mf. Cook Hermitage iix a crate, we cofifidently looked for some run iix the morning," he says. "Before leaving for «xy camp up .the Tasman, I helped to release the gobbler from his box. As soon as the box: Was taken oqt into the yard ah.put thirty keas came to investigate, and sat round on the fence in puzzled silence while the battens were toru off. The turkey strutted out and puffed around the yard. The keas, still puzzled, merely ruffled their feathers, and maintained a disgusted 'sileTic'e at so taWe ' a performance. Then one; apparently1 the leacler, gave a derisive shriek of 'k-e-e—e -a',' as much as to say 'Corne dway, boys, this is a poor show,' whic'h so hurt th'e turkey's dignity' he could noit let i't pass unnoticed, and he issued a challenging gobble. This gave t'h'e keas their cue for a bit of f un, 'and iiistead of flying 'away they shrieked in chorus, the turkey obligingly re_ sp'onding eYery time'till the fun becariife fast afid furiohs for those hqmourists, who kept him gobbling till he Was hoarse. It was so good k 'show' from the keas' poipt of vieW' that they repeated it fot seVeral days, ; every morning just after. dawn." • "The Avengers." No better d'escription of the stupid slaughter o.f f orest on steejx wafersheds has heen given than the poieni, ' "Thfi Avengers," hy_ 0. N. Gillespie, 1 published'in the NeW Zealanii "For'es.t ;> Magazine"- of lst May, 1932. Here are several verSes: — • Li'ke ■ some . huge earth-god, , sprawling lpotionless Ahd St'aring at the sea, tlteTohg hil'l lay. "While busy eenturies Wrought hihi a dress Of splendid green to cloak th6 dingy elay. In toiiing hands the spinning axes rang, i*

T.ijl, crashmg ope by one the great ranks feil: llai;lc! As they lay, a grim bush spirit rang: "Brothers, the Bush , . Will talce re- . venge . . . Farewell." Next a tthe reckless bidding of a fool, The sunlight sunken in eaoli dying leaf Leapt to flerce llame that rages in mad wisvule, Leaying an ashen desert, gvev as. grl'ef. The .tjmid alien grasses came at last, Pliant and servile, dreading the strange , land; Faintly tfiey heard, rpstling with fear. aghast, The warrior song of an atfacking hapd. Tauwhjnq and ta.ll fern, fox-gloye. and hutiwai, . , , : ' .Swaynfipg up Ihe. long slones, poyr^ng; thi'ough the passe's On the flats the ragwort's banner' fly; Vengeance for the slain trees; death to stranger grasses." The dreaded burr of "biddybid."