62 A NEW ZEALAND NATURALIST'S CALENDAR. 



Chapter V. March. 



I. 



The exceptional amount of sunshine which we have 

 enjoyed this season has matured most things at a date 

 considerably earlier than has heen the case for several 

 years past, and this fact has been conspicuous every- 

 where. The ripening of the grain in the fields and the 

 fruit in the orchards has produced an abundance of food 

 for birds, and this has shown itself, among other ways, 

 in the neglect of certain substances which they usually 

 affect. It is the first season for a long time that the fruit 

 of the rowan or mountain ash has been allowed to ripen 

 on the trees and to beautify the landscape by its brilliancy. 

 This fruit is extremely astringent, but when other food is 

 scarce blackbirds and thrushes eat it as fast as it turns 

 red. This season there has been so much that is more 

 attractive and tasteful that these birds have left it alone, 

 preferring plums and other luscious fruits, which have also 

 been very abundant. 



An interesting suggestion on the subject of weather, 

 which I commend to those who care to investigate the 

 matter, is to find out whether it is the case that when the 

 Australian Continent suffers from prolonged drought, New 

 Zealand gets too much wet and cold weather ; and, con- 

 versely, when Australia gets too much rain these islands 

 enjoy a drier and warmer climate. Our past cold seasons 

 have been drought years in Australia ; this year is an 

 unusually wet one on the other side of the Tasman Sea, 

 and a dry one in New Zealand. This is probably more 

 than a coincidence, though it would require a careful 

 examination of meteorological records to establish the 

 truth of the hypothesis. At the same time, the suggestion 

 is a highly probable one, and the explanation of it would 

 have to be looked for within the Antarctic circle. When 

 vast masses of ice are disengaged from the southern ice-cap 



