A WONDERFUL HOUR.

Taranaki Daily News, 30 December 1916, Page 9

A WONDERFUL HOUR.

WITH A WOXDERVUL OBSERVER. (By an English Visitor to \ T .Z., E. M. Story). I discovered him working away in Pukekura Park, of which he is curator. The morning sun was shining down on all sorts and conditions of men and women in New Zealund, but I am confident that the Dominion does not contain a more qbservant or reverent student of Nature than Mr. W. W. Smith. As modest as the great Sir Isaac Newton; as gentle and thorough as Gilbert White, of Selborne; as truthful and painstakingly accurate as Richard Jeffries; as wide in the scope of his interests as Professor Owen, and valued by .Sew Zealand so little that lie, with all his erudition, with all his painstaking, first-hand work, with all his accumulated stores of personally-ascertained fact, is actually employed in doing -work which an illiterate, musculafr laborer could probably do as well, and not only so, but his careful scientific research and experiments are allowed to lapse or be but struggling!}' maintained because, forsooth, the small means necessary to continue them are not forthcoming! Yet how New Zealand can shoutiover what she means to do in the future in the cause of science that she may be advanced to a place among nations! Here, in New Plymouth, is a truly wonderful man—one to whom many secrets qf Nature are revealed; a man, moreover, with whom to spend an -hour is to receive such an insight into the heart of Nature's workings that one realises that having eyes there has hitherto been 110 sight, that having ears there has yet been no hearing, until this hour came.

In a poor, mean little cottage in tlie Park this reverent scientist and naturalist works. He lias none to help him, for the day laborer and the lad who constitute his "staff" have enough to do, and are fittingly employed in laboring in the grounds. It is a folly over which the angels might well weep that sees wasted on this work one who should be honored, esteemed and placed in a position where lie would at least be free to observe, reflect and put before the humble-minded, who are worthy to sit at the feet of Wisdom, his impressions. "Of whom the world was not worthy," is the epitome I, at least, select for this man's life, character and achievements.

Bear with me, oh dear short-sighted New Zealand, if I point out that in any other country under the sun Mr. W. W. Smith would long ago have been recognised as a man of mind, a man of power, a wonderful observer, a scholar and a gentleman, a loader in scientific discovery, and of advanced thought. This man should be treasured as one of New Zealand's greatest assets, and truly his fame lias gone out to the ends of the earth. j ln the world's great capitals, the name and labors of Smith are well known. Letters come to him from eminent scientists and naturalists in all lauds, asking his opinion on a hundred and one moot points, lie replies, lmt his careful and scholarly answers must needs be written while others sleep, for our great man is paid the wage of a laborer and works with spade and hoe for his daily bread. Among the seven abominations that Solomon, the wise Kastern sage, saw under the sun was that of "beggars on horseback and princes walking." There are to-day many impoverished minds whose owners drive about in mo-tor-cars and spend money freely, while a princo among men, such as Mr. W. W. Smith, is hard put to it to buy materials to enable him to carry on his invaluable work for the benefit of mankind.

The true History of the progress of a nation has ever been the history of her great men, her individualists, and it is via such men that a nation ARRIVES. When I return to the Homeland and am asked to name one of the men who lias most interested me in this country during my stay of some eighteen months, my answer will at once he "Mr. W. W. Smith, of New Plymouth," and if I were an autocrat foir but an hour, possesscS of autocratic power and wealth, I would immediately exercise my autocracy to levy the sum of £lO,000, which I would place in the hands of Mr. W. W. Smith that-he might use it as his wisdom and judgment should dictate for purposes of research and otherwise, but absolutely as he thought best. It is no secret that Mr. W. W. Smith has in bis possession manuscripts which he has written, diaries kept through long years of trained and scientific observation which would be given to the world were the funds, for publication available. With £10,006 at his disposal and a free hand Mr. Smith would be able to give his undivided attention to observation and experiment, and to secure for the Dominion and the civilised world incalculable wealth of the highest kind. Nor would the money be other than a wise investment. There would be nothing of, a speculative nature about it; the yield would be sure and certain. It is to our men of science that we are indebted for the millions secured by commerce which they have made possible, and industrial New Zealand would find that in Mr. Smith's soundly-based theories there is unlimited gold.

"If you are not too busy, Mr. Smith, would you spare me half-an-hour far a chat," I asked, as he stood on the path on which he had been working. Graciously ha assented, and together we walked to the cottage behind the tea kiosk in Pukekura Park. "What can I talk of that would interest you," he asked kindly and simply.

''Of New Zealand's lizard," I answered, "which you mentioned on the first occasion that I saw you." "The tuatara," he said, "the oldest species of existing lizard. It is not now to be found on the mainlartd, you know, but only on the outlying islands." "No, 1 did not know; 1 wanted to know, and that's why I've come to you," I answered.

He smiled, and continued: "It lives in burrows in the sand, ajid rocky outlying islands, chiefly in the Bay of 'Plenty. It ranges in length from 12 inches to 20 inches, according to age. Unfortunately it became a prey to the dealers, and some o,f th<j islands have been depleted. Within the last few years Government action has been taken to preserve the tuatara from merciless marauders. 'The most interesting historical feature of the reptile is its peculiar structure and its great age geologically. It came from the Jurassic period. It might well and truthfully say, if it could •speak 'I am the heir of all the ages.' Professor Thomas conducted a long series of experiments, and was fairly successful. One of the life-habits of the tuatara is that it shares the hole it burrows with the mutton-bird, one of several species of petrel. These strange companions amicably share the some burrow! The lizards are absolutely harm-

less, and the birds, of course, know it. The tuatara lives on earth worms and ilies. Where the birds are nesting there is generally a strong sinell, which- attracts the ilies, and these become the food of the lizard. The creature itself is of a bluish-grey. The late Professot Parker said that the tuatara and the kiwi are New Zealand's grandest possessions. Professor Dendy, late of Canterbury College, who, experimented with the lizard, has written a paper dealing with the creature's third, or penal, eye Unquestionably the tuatara's isolation from the mainland has contributed to its freedom from enemies, and so to its preservation. From enquiries I have made among Maoris," said Mr. Smith, ■'the lizard has for long been absent from the mainland." "You have mentioned the kiwi," Mr. Smith; "would you mind telling me something of its habits?" I asked. "The kiwi," he said, "is one of the greatest problems known to ornithologists. It is the only living representative of the great moa. Owing to its diminutiveness compared with- the moa, it took to a life in the bush, and in doing so it became 'apterous,-' that i 6, it lost the use of its wings. The dense bush protected it from enemies and gave it abundance of food, and so its wings fell into desuetude. It has a very long bill. In my opinion the long bill was evolved by its methods of procuring food, probing deep in the earth for worms, and in the decayed prostrate logs of the bush, to obtain grubs and the insects on which it largely subsists. The rudimentary wings are about two inches in length, and quite hidden under the feathers and useless for purposes of locomotion or defence. Its only_ means of defence and offence is that of kicking. The legs are powerfully developed. I experimented one night with two kiwS, putting two domestic fowl in with them. When the kiwis came out in. the evening—they are birds of strictly nocturnal habits—it was remarkable to watch them. The cockerels in the yard, when they saw the long bill of the kiwi coming out, became very uneasy and strutted to and fro, uttering remonstrances of surprise and disgust. The bigger kiwi rushed at one. of the cockerels, and gave it a good tap on the head; the kiwi rushed up to the cockerel, striking powerfully with its feet, and I had to go in and stop them; The kiwi is almost bliid, having very small eyes and a short sight. It possesses an extremely acute sense of scent and a delicate sensibility in the beak. The nostrils are situated beneath the tip of the beak, which enables it to find its food both on the surface and beneath.. With regard to the nesting of the kiwi, I succeeded in getting it to lay eggs I had a very fine, handsome female kiwi given me by Mr. Newton King. She was fastidious about a mate, and itr *is a fact that the .first intended mate that I introduced to her she almost killed! Perhaps his scent displeased her. The second introduction was, in the beginning, almost as unsatisfactory, as she punished him by giving him a thorough thrashing. I-lowcvcr, after the thrashing the two became reconciled, and they mated. They had been mated three months when she laid two> eggs. One was laid a week after the other. Before laying the eggs the pair dug a pit in the floor of the clay house. The pit was so dug that the cavity was of a dome shape, that giving the greatest ease to the setting birds —by the by, it is tiie male bird that sets—as the shape of the nest admits of his turning round and moving his position on the eggs at will. The eggs are buried for onethird of their depth in the soil at the bottom of the nest, and the male bird sets most of his time across them. He is much smaller than the female. He sat twenty-eight days and brought out one chick, and on the following day another —little pure white fluffy creatures, with pinkish bills. I had procured earth worms for them and grubs, and they were no sooner hatched than they began to run about. The male bin!, fter his long inactivity, was most miserably emaciated, and ate enormous quantities of fooid. When the eggs were hatched the mother bird at once took possession of the chicks and reared them to maturity. I have seen the chicks sitting close against her, but not actually gathered under her. I have also seen the mother bird prod for worms, which when she had secured she dropped on the surface for the young ones. When one of the kiwi chicks was halfgrown I went to the house to show it to a friend, when I discovered that it was dead, its jugular vein having been fevered by a weasel! You can imagine my feelings. It is at least satisfactory to me that I trapped the creature that had made a victim of the young kiwi. I captured it by employing a method adopted by gamekeepers at Home. I procured a tile, about loin wide, and placed some food on the centre, and at each end of the tile I sank a rat trap The weasel came for the food, and started to run off with it, and so entered one of the traps! "I reared the other kiwi; he's running about in the park now. It takes lialf-a-pound of fresh meat per day to fe.ed a kiwi, and so I was obliged to free him, to save the cost. When I was rearing the young ones, I used to go into their place, taking with me a dim light, and I would sit and watch them for an hour or so, observing their habits. I have sat down on a seat only slightly raised from the ground, without moviny in the least, and with my knees at a [slight angle, and the birds have co,mo and prodded me over, and mounted on | to me. As they prod they utter a loud sniff. A factor that contributes to the ease with which they find their way in the darkness is the number of long black hairs disposed around the beak. These hairs act as feelers and enable their owners to gauge the nearness of surrounding objects. "It required five months for the one remaining ki\ \ to arrive at its full growth. It lost its white covering—its chickhood —-in about ten weeks, and then it became covered with hairy feathers of a soft hrowny-black." "You mentioned that the kiwi is related to the mop, Mr. Smith." "Yes; there, is a largenumber of species of moa; the kiwi is the most diminutive form. The. inoas range from the kiwi, through a large number of species up to fourteen feet in height The mois attained their highest development ill the .Pleistocene Age. Jrom that perioil they began ten diminish, though extremely slowly, in numbers, through tiie Miocene and Pliocene Ages, up to the Quaternary, which is, of course, the age of man. There is a wide 'range of opinion amongst scientists as* to what led up to the extinction of toe moa. Some of the scientists contended that the Maori knew nothing of the moa. These scientists and their theories are now as extinct as the moa. New facts are forthcoming daily proving that the moa lived within the last 250 years. It flourished in the Albury district «ontemporaneously with the Maroi. It was in this locality that unquestionably the latest of the moas persisted. It is "26 years ago that the late Sir Walter Buller sent me to explore the |

Albury district for moa bones. At tliat time contract ploughmen were ploughing the downs 011 the estate, anil evenda}' they turned up large quantities of moa bones. Koine of the skeletons wen; more or less perfect, and other lots were only portions of a skeleton, as thope parts of the bird had been removed. This was probably due to the moa hunters. J was able to make a large and valuable collection of mixed bones for Sir Walter Buller . Kome of them were afterwards submitted to .Sir Richard Owen—better known as Professor Owen. Amongst the numerous bones was one which lie thought was a new species, and would have named it after Sir Walter Buller but the remaining portions of the skeleton, were not amongst those submitted. There were, among the bones that I collected, six or seven distinct species, including 6ome of those of the elephant-footed moa, which was a species of massive structure.'

"How do you account for the bones of the moa being found in so many places so wide apart, Mr. Smith?" I asked.

"Quite simply," he replied. "Heavy/ birds would wade into the swamps an« perish in large numbers. Then floods coming—there was ten times the amount of rain we have now —would carry away the dead moas and deposit their bodies in all parts. For example, they occur- | red in vast numbers in Glenmark swamp, and in the swamps near Oamaru. The country around Glenmark and Oamaru, where the great deposits of bones occurred, is almost identical in general configuration. 'The largest deposits have occurred in limestone districts. It is important, in this connection, to note these matters. Glenmark, Oamaru and Albury are limestone districts.

"During the summer months some of the birds would stray high up into the mountains feeding, where I've no doubt they were at times overtaken by snowstorms, and perished, owing to their being unable to descend to the lower country. The shepherds have' often discovered their bodies on the mountain sides. Throughout the Tertiary period there was a greater humidity, and the general vegetation was extremely rank, and on this; of course, the moa subsisted When collecting the moa bones we carefully forked deeply around the place, and we always found quantities of gizard stones, some of them two inches hi length, roiiinded and smooth and thoroughly polished. These stones from the gizard were left in little heaps, just where the skeleton was turned up. When the ploughmen were ploughing the new "round, near the Tengawa Gorge, on the Albury estate, they turned up some of the Maori ovens, where we were nble to collect enormous quantities of moa bones. We also collected a number of Maori axes and adzes some of "reenstone, bone needles, made ot moa" and Maori hones. The latter are now in the 'Buller Collection' in the Colonial Museum. "In the Albury district there is a considerable number of limestone eaves, in which the moa huntcT dwelt for agee. The walls of the caves are covered with grotesque figures and rock paintings, including .figures of moa eggs, taniwhas, etc., and numerous other illustrations of life' in that period. I have an idea that these hunters farmed some species of moa. The moa-fanner would he careful to select the species with reference to the number of eggs, and to the meat, for use as a 'table bird.'" I looked at my watch. I looked at it sternly, resenting its tell-tale habits! For a, time, at least, I had lived back in the days of moa-romancc, before life meant more than "going, to the pictures,"