NATIVE BIRDS

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 2, Issue 443, 30 January 1933, Page 2

NATIVE BIRDS

Leo

Fanning.)

the:ir preservation MORE SANCTUARIES ON ! MAINL'AND ARE 1 NEJRDED, ' ' . 1 . A * •« . shooting of godwits. ,

(Edited by

Glancing through a file the other day my gaze Hvas arrested by a hekding "SavA th'e Godwit'' 'ori a lhtter p'ublished in a Wellington paper over the signature of Mr. J. R; Kirk. It was a very eloquent plea for pity on behalf of 'hafmless birds, which breed in Siberia and migrate to New Zealand for the summer season here. Other writefs rose in different districts > 'for the 'godwit, but did they win against" the! killihg-craze :of so-called "sport"? They did' not. So again/ this .ye'ar,1 when the godwits are mustering1 "in the northern | part of the Bominion"f of s their long 3 flight across the oeean,! the 'gtms qf heartless unim'aginative "sp'ortsmen" and "sportswomen," tooj Will take toll 3 of th'em. This slaughter ' will not be L done by hungry persons 'in seareh of' : food. Well-fed New Zealand does not j need the little bodies of godwits"for J its pots, pans or ovens. No, the killing will be for "sport," • ' ^ Oh, "sport," what eruelties are done ^ in thy name -against birds and other ; creatures! The canine teeth of man ' are reminders of his descbnt from savage ancestry. In many individualg ; the old prmiitive instinct to kill is - still stfoh'g, 'but it is glorified by'the name of ''sport," which, is often .nothing better than organised systematic butchery of birds and heasts in one-sided warfare. Philosophers say that the human race is progressing ; to higher things, but the Pate 6f ad=- . vance is very slow for 'many of us, . How many more centuries will be rel quired to put butcher "sport" out of , court in human affairs? Meanwhile, , fi'iends of the high' humanitarianism must do their best to put the right . imp/ress on young folk, for ease-hard-5 ened "sports" are usually loth to 1'is- ; ten to reason/ and are apt' to decry as "old women" the critibs who dare . to question'the fairness of thejr killing pastimes. • i.iore Bird Sanctuaries. Precedirig articles have mentioned i that some New Zealanders, whosa esl tates include 1 isome nohle stands of . native hush, have the power to in- , crease the number of sanctuaries- for ; birds. It must be remembered that the making of -safety zones for birds ; ensures not only the preservation! of . threatened species; this policy gives i the birds a chance to spread beyond the boundaries of those special areas. , In, one of his bright helpful articles , on the hird-life of Kapiti Island, Mr. [ Johannes Andersen remarks: — [ "It is known that iseveral of the - birds on Kapiti visit the mainland - when the flowers are in hloom; it !is ; also known that of the tuis that go i many do not retufn, hut remain on the mainland. A great advantage, therefore, of having' thgse sanctuaries scattered about'New Zealand is that they act -as nurseries from which the greater part qf New Zealand may again be replenished with out characteristic birds; and if they are encouraged and left unmolested, as they are on Kapiti, then the people -of New Zealand generally may experience the enpoyment T had during my three weeks of real holiday. Th'ese notes were written with -a' view td;transmittipg some of that enjoyment to such as care for these things, and I believe 'thehi to he many." Blunders in Acclimatisation. One of the numerous parodies of "Aliee in Wonderfland" was headed, "A|ice in Blunderland" — a phrase which could he applied to some of the work of acclimatisation enthusiasts. New Zealand can be fairly termed'the I'Wonderland of th'e Pte-cifiic"' {from some viewpoints, but in certain mattersr'it is a "Blunderland," and 1 acclimatisation is' biie of them. A Httle ;more than half a century ago, keen 'observers of mistakes in the field of acclimatisation had begun to souridj notes of warning, hut thhy were regarded as voices in the wilderness. In his book, "Oht in 'the Upen" (first published in 1882), Mr- Ti H. Potts, as intelli'gent as he was ardeht in his love of nature, wrote: — "It would not he a matter of much regret if the present irresponsible system of acclimatisation were stopped before mistakeh zeal- results in further errors. This is a delicate sub'jeCt to deal with, and I« trust it will not be c6nsidered impertinent to qUestion the infallible wisdom of acclimatisation councils. The time may come when the sparrow eon'troversy may be revived here; when' that grand bird, the black swan, useless or unsavoury as food, a disturbed of the broodjs of less powerful Antidae, may he regarded as an acquisition of doubtful value. . , . Acclimatisation societies might expend sbme'eriergid^'in thd Te-ehtab-lishment of the most valuable of our n'ative faupa. This would pr'ove a useful if not' a very showy 'ocfeupation; dwellers" beyond the "narro'w cdnfines o'f our' shores Would take an iriterest in the progregs of ' such work; yet jt must be candidly , avowed. that attempts in the direction indicated would he attende'd with ' little of the eclat which now accompaiiifes the announce^ merit of' every newly introduced wonder, and advertises each local society." More 'blunders have heen made since the daysi of, Mr. Potts, and altogeth'er New Zealand will he compelled to suffer immeasurable and irreparable losses ag ' the result* of stupid mistakes in acclimatisation^ and the unwfflingness of successive Governmqnts to take timely effective mea- ; sures against fdislastrous- nuisances, particularly the devastating * deer. The Friendly Hedge-Sparrow. Although the hedge-sparrow is not a "native/' I like to think of -it as a cousin of th'e grey-warhler,' although, that nation would, no douht, gh.nck. ( an ornithologist. The hedge-sparrow ; has the modest. friendly demureness , of the" warbler and similar liabits. i They arev both sworn enemies of irv- ; sect pests, and they both seem to have a no appetite for fruit.. In a note on , the warbler, Mr. Potts remarked ihany 1 years ago: "The fruit grower necd ; not take alarm about this hird; its h'abit ig' ptffely ihsectivo'rous; The 1 writeil notice'd a nest huilt iii a cur- ] rapt hush with hranches of the prim- j soh berries ripening against the sides 1 of - the 'nest a'nd 16ft alT'imtQUched: hy j the parent' hirffs ahd their tehder pff- j spring." •"Prohahly the hedge-sparrow ) would- have a ' similar iattitude, hut ihe j temntation wouldlbe toO mucli for' that i

"adopted native bird,," th'e lovable little white-eye, which likes juicy berries, whether grown hy man or by wild nature. • However, the White-eye dofis -so much good as a destroyer of harmful insects, gruhs and hlights that man should not begrudge it a little fruit as' wages. The Bird Mind. i • A preceding article mentioned the diff erence in intelligence among oirds of the same species. "This truth was •again impressed on me recently by a pair of hedge-sparrows which made a home and raised a family in a whitebroom bush in my garden. There were manj1 suitahle hesting-places availahle, but they deliberately chose a hush flanked by two grassy paths, so that the birds'' abodq, was- almost in the fairway -of traffie. However, th'ey huilt their nest and had eggs hefore anybody knew that the broom-bush had tenants. Indeed, their enterprise might have remained secret if one of them 'hiad not suddenly fluttered from tjie hnsh once when 'I h'appened to be standing very close to it. That fluttererwas evidently the less intelligent of the pair, for I later perceived a difference in their sense. The shrewd one would approach, the nest very eunningly, by stages. It would fiit hbout in a round-ahout way, arid th'eri suddenly disappear in the broom, The other would sometimes fly from a distant tree straight to the nesting-place — a sure clue to any onlooker. "Mobbing" the Morepork. Ref erence has been made to the sense of tuis which chase cuckoos from the vicinity of their nestingplaces. Similarly, birds which suspect the morepork of designs against' theii Jiveg will give one bf these owls an unhappy time if they find it dozing during the' daytime." The first? bird to see the slumbering morepork gives a cry which is both an alarm and a call; for soon many birds are drawn to the"spot, and the owl's" peace i's rudely hroken.. Angry little eyes glare at him, and many little be'aks threaten him: For a few moments |je trieS to awe his persecutors -' by - b.aleful stares ' and som.e f of niidable nojses, hut he soon decides that fiight ' iS hetter than fight, and fluttefs-o'ff tb a darker part of the forest.