Smith. — Notes on New Zealand Earth-worms. 129 



out by the appearance of their limp and emaciated bodies ; 

 but, whatever may be the cause of their deaths, I am of 

 opiuion that they die more from the lack of the necessary 

 moistui-e in the mould they inhabit, than from actual disease.* 

 Mr Urquhart. who has paid some attention to this subject, and 

 who collected worms roaming about after heavy raius, says 

 that they were certainly not all sick, as he obtained healthy 

 as well as sickly and dead worms; but in the case of the 

 healthy ones they were no doubt flooded out of their burrows, 

 and searching for drier ground when picked up. However, 

 that worms are sometimes drowned there is no doubt, as 

 any one can observe after heavy rains. When the water 

 sometimes forms large pools in paddocks, numbers of dead 

 worms are seen lying on the bottom. If it occurs in the 

 spring or summer, the little grey Tern [Sterna antarctica) 

 soon detects them, and small flocks hover and circle about 

 the pools, dipping into the water every few minutes and 

 picking up the dead worms. 



Protracted di'oughts do incalculable injury to the land, 

 not only in destroying worms, but in preventi]]g their actions 

 from replenishing it. The summer and autumn of 1885 

 and 1886 have been the driest on record, and the most 

 disastrous to earth-worms, that of 1884 the coldest and 

 wettest, but well suited to their actions and the most beneficial 

 to the land. 



Mr. Urquhart states that the greatest enemies of worms 

 in the district of Auckland are the Limosa baueri \^Var. Red- 

 rumped Godwit) and Larus scopulinus (Mackerel Gull). Here 

 in the South, undoubtedly their strongest enemies, excepting 

 in the more settled districts, are the Weka [Ocydromus amtralis) 

 and Swamp Hen {Porphyrio melanotus). Both species, being 

 of nocturnal habits, come in for the lion's share. Both the 

 introduced blackbirds and thrushes consume immense numbers. 

 The old adage, " The early bird catches the worm," is most 

 appropriate when applied to both species. The abundance of 

 worms in settled districts, combined with their habit of lying 

 paired, or roaming about on the surface after daybreak, may 

 be said to be one of the chief causes favouring the great 

 increase of both these English songsters. They, however, 

 do not lose their finer relish for strawberries and other fruits, 

 as they have already gained the same ominous name in this 



* Mr. Darwin has fully discussed the effects of an English winter 

 on earth-worms. After observing their movements on the surface, he 

 remarks: "On these occasions, very few dead worms could anywhere 

 be seen," and continues, "on January 31st, 1881, after a long-continued 

 and unusually severe frost, with much snow, as soon as a thaw set in 

 the walks were marked with innumerable tracks;" but no further mention 

 is made of dead worms 



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