Correspondence



107



I cannot do better than quote the following—a portion of the article :—

“ To show how accommodating our Robin can be I will quote two extreme

cases. In the first, I took my five Blue Robins eggs to a nest I knew, and,

to my chagrin found the foster parents’ eggs just hatching, in fact one chick

had left the egg. I removed this youngster and the three remaining eggs

and substituted my own five much larger blue eggs. I did not expect much

result, but to my surprise the Robins sat on for another six or seven days

and hatched out the substituted eggs and finally reared three young.


“ On another occasion I was at a loss for a Robins nest, and heard of one

in which the clutch was just complete. In this case my own Blue Birds had

been setting ten days. I took the risk and swapped the eggs, and the red¬

breasts must have had the surprise of their lives to hatch out four chicks

at the end of two or three days incubation. In this case all the eggs hatched

and the young were reared satisfactorily.”


N. Nicholson.



NOTES FROM NEW ZEALAND

THE KEA AND THE IMPORTED MYNAH


I was recently discussing the habits of the Kea with an early settler in

New Zealand, a man who is now over 80. In his early days he lived in parts

of the South Island where the Kea was very common and his explanation

of the “ changed habits ” may be of interest to you.


In the mountainous districts various species of the plant Raonlia,

commonly known as the vegetable sheep, are common. They are described

on pp. 105-106 of Dr. Cockayne’s book, New Zealand Plants and their Story,

2nd edition, an illustration facing page 104. The author says : “ The vegetable

sheep are not inaptly named, for at a distance a shepherd might be misled.”

My informant told me he had frequently seen the Kea perched on one of these

masses of vegetation driving its beak into the interior in search of the many

grubs found there.


The change of habit from this to a dead or even a living animal is easy

to understand and seems to me more logical than the theory usually advanced.


The skins at an abattoir are usually hung on fences to dry in the sun and

wind, the wool being underneath, and therefore the sheepskin in this position

would bear no resemblance to the vegetable counterpart.


It is obvious that the bird searching for grubs in a dead or living sheep

would readily persevere and thus acquire a taste for the fat layer which it

would soon reach with its powerful beak.


At the same time it should be recognized that all the birds do not acquire

this taste, which is probably somewhat similar to the objectionable habit

seen in the man-eating tiger or shark. An individual bird having acquired

the habit becomes a very great danger to the farmer but it is rather sweeping

to suggest that the habits of the whole species have changed.


It is particularly interesting to note the changing habits of imported birds

and also of native birds due to the importation of other forms of food.


I have been observing of late the Mynah from India. In my district,

the Wairarapa, it seems to be entirely insectivorous, but further north—

Hawkes Lay—I have seem them taking nectar from the flowers of the flax

plant or the red-hot poker. This habit it seems to have learnt from the

native Tui or Parson Bird. In my garden I have watched the Tui feeding



