The Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848 - 1956)(about) |
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Friday 1 June 1917
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J NATURE IZOTES AND QUERIES,
Kv HOXALD JLACUOKAlaD.
s-oML mm Msrro!!1
I \lr M U J old s pre ont locition
I (the Tanjil Ranges, Gippsland) «ecms
to be pirticularl} rich in bud life
\\ c hive man» birds about he snv« imongst them two ver} fine emu tint canfe oier when the blick burles were ripe lhere m hundreds of king parrots m the distnct where they ire knoivn loeillv is spud purots as they ittark the potatoes when ifter being dug they ure King on the sutfice Uley au ilso bid on miia.e crops Hie led lorv is verv tbtindanl, ind li is a bad r. putation
iniong flint and o it crops li» o othei birds net often seen nowadavs ne the wonga ind bronzewing pigeons 'lhere in bui few rosella« the countr} being too scrnbb» for these birds but both g mg gang and black coe! atoos ire plentiful 1 hev nest in the nnges and norn of the settl« rs
j li ive ni} compliiul igaiiisl them LS to I dimagtug crops Other birds about tbe
cimp are pretty well ill the tit fimilv as well is finches robins coichwhip birds (mum purs of Hiern I golden ind rufous
breiten whistlers tree-crc< per? wivns ¡ boney entero two varicti.s til Ihrnsles
spotted (.round birds w lute shaftetl mid liifou« fantnils bell ini^pic« »»bite winded, choughs wood swalloi» and a few l}re
birds
SP I U I" Mt mil's
Ihe name spud pirrot« as given locallv to the beautiful king pinol li is been u-cd m Gippsland and lo the > ist ut Melbourne for v.r} nitnv veir« Quite iO }ear> ago i Williamstown binl citihei told me that the 1 in^ pirrot vvis trapped m large num bers after the potato digging bv laving out i few potatoes nore ajid Hu re in the 'V'unit} of their spnng nct-s
HHOV. N qt Mr
I would hive expected the brown quail to lu fairlv uuuiaious in the I'ort irhne,U)ii distnrt hut appirenth it is not so, for two shooting men ol experience "Mr I Coone} and Ali \\ Gorman hive nppar t nth not seen it J hev vieie shooting in a sin ill piddoek to the «outh of Portarhng ton in stubble land ind got 11* brice Dur tug the shooting Mi Coone} flushed i cove} of four biras anti got two of them
\Ir Gorman follow ing up the (light shot tile
ntbei bl au In the first brice outlined . b} Jil Coone} was Hu bpeciiiîcn sent IJ>or the past JO vcirs be his shot quail in
uiau} parts of the btalo and dnnng the list five }cire be lias shot ovei the Port irhngton distriet both in bu«)) and stubble countr} but he hus nevei seen i bud of this kind befóte
Ihe brown quill (b}noecus Australis) is spread ovei the whole of the southern pait of ».tistnlit I hev usuilh move ibout m smill covevs up to a doren in number and are fond of swampv land and furly tlnek 1 cover
They ire gencnll} nifous brown in colour washed with a bluish osliy tinge The distinctive plumage marl, as against other quill is the clear line of white down tlie centre of the back feathers, fioin neck to till
I OGS OF QUAIL
There is a good deal of confusion is to the eggs of quail because brow n qu ni nest .frequently in growing crops and the fut
of then eggs ueing found in the stubble leads often to the belief that they are Btubblc quail Hie brown quill li}3 hrgc clutches of anything up to a dozen Ilii leggs ire dull white ni colour, slnrplv I pointed it one end, and very hneTy dusted Iwitb olive or light brown Hie stubble
quill also has clutches of _« dozen oi so but of i roundish oval m shape The main colour is a crctmv }ellow, heivil} blotched with dark olive green
MRD LIML 1011 MICI
In i recent reply to "M G M " I doubted whether bird lime would hold mice Ex pcricncc shows that it will bold not onlv mice but much larger mimais Cygnus
(fat Kildi) snvs - Many }cars igo while living in i large house ovei looking one of the Singapore dry docks ] was troubled with nts A vessel from Rangoon cime into dock anti 1 found b} ch ince that they had successfully caught nts with i «tort of native bird lime 1 got a smill quantity and ananged it in the followim, wav -A piece of cardboard about 20in long lay 12in or lim wide was obtained V banana as
bait was stuck in the middle by a small quantity of bird lime while a circle of bird lune about I'm broad was spread about tbe banani Inside half an hour seven or
eight rats were caught, mv dogs killing them as, the} were taken off After two days the tats entirely disappeaied irom the house"
JIM1N0 A TIGFIt
"In some parts of Indiu even tigers are taken m the following mannet -A shallow
pit 1« dug in the grour . and large qiian title» of dead lc-ic. smeared ivith bird June aie thrown into it A Mutable bait is prepared and "-tripes ni ordet to get it must pa.« ovei thr pieparcd leave
fhc-C stick to his paws tail ind other parts of his body lu stnigghng and twisting to rub these oil he gets them u¡l over the body and eventually becomes a writhing mass of dead leaves His eye» being eoveicd he thus become, blind and an easy prey to his waiting assailants '
A\0_tI.R 1 M .III. NU
\ schoolboy, Donald Pettie of Doñeaste!
adds tin experience with .onie interesting detail - . year ago mi sister found that mice had entered i cupboard and after try
mg various ways of getting them she used birdlime Miepol i tin of it spread it c ire
Hilly overa heavy picieofvvool and placed ii quite near to the holes of tilt miec In about half tin hour the lust mouse WHS held by the tail only md it took quite un cffoil to L.ct it ofT In this vvav twelve oi thirteen were e night Whatever part touched the lune thev weie held fast Pul lue line
were equil to the emergency I hey set to work and with scraps of piper got fiom inside the cupboard spreid a paper bude
neio.'s the bud lime No more were caught in th it cupboard Then another trap ol the .ame I mil tus set in another place and the sami result followed I lu nuce final!«,
bridged a wa\ icro s with paper In tint sense bird linn is *T mousetrap "was i failui the .toiy mm s em stiange bit n any people ¡ivy the ti ips I took the boaid with the bird hine and papel brille on uti the school nnstei who give us a nituii (tidy le-soii upon it
DI AMI Ml ll-MI \DI
Hie pi mt «ent b. M i f Bny of Quain bitool is the deidlv night-hide itropi bilhdonni which grows (o a height of about foul feet It is a poisonous weed md from it nie obi lined several things used m meditmi sin li as atropin ergo ergotm -trvehninc Ac lhere m two kinds of nightshade common in girdens and rulti v iteil ground Hie black or common night
sfi ide fbolanuni iiigrum) is si blom moic than t foot oi £o in height and the bernes may be lil iel lid yellow, or green 'lins list is i eomparahvily harmless pi mt and childi en often eit the ripened black
bei ne «
111 I'll .PR S LA«t MOTH
Hie excellent sketch sent bv Mrs V I emple .¡ile« of Ringwood it once iden tifies Um liner a c"__ moth Ihc other case
mut lis lave a shelter of cleanly-cut straight
sticks h\eel on a b isis of web but Hucb ncr s lit lehes lea.«es as well a» sticks It Irangs as a pendant like other case moth« but in forms thiel cn« oui reaching its widest ti the centre and then tapering to i point again .hey ure not very particu lar as to their food
IN Ol D Al Pi r iltij^
\n apple tree in Air V Amos s garden at Cranbrook (lusimnia, planted about 80 years aga measures seven feet one inch lound the butt, two feet above the ground It was bearing apples up till a year or two ago but is now dead presumably of old age " (ID, I lvvood )
IBIS AND LOCUSTS
"During the week", says "Mervew" (St.
Kilda), "I saw a moving picture of the ibis rookeries near Kerang. In dicussing them with a friend, I mentioned that thrown on the screen with the pictures was a state- ment that the ibis were great destroyers of grasshoppers and other insects, and that an average meal for an ibis was 8,000 grass- hoppers. My friend considered the state- ment absurd, and we would like some in- formation as to how it originated."
There have been several estimates made by naturalists as to the number of locusts or grasshoppers that an ibis would eat in a day. I remember that Mr. Dudley le Souef and Dr. Charles Ryan, in the Riverina one season, estimated that a particular flock in the locality contained 240,000 birds. They shot several birds for an examination of the stomachs, and on actual counting found that the stomach of each bird contained, on the average, 2,000 young grasshoppers.
CANG rA\r COCK VTOOS
Years ago at Buln Buln writes Wonga from f_t Kilda Gang Gangs used to come down from the foi est ranges for a time to feed on the bernes of the li iwthorn bushes a half mile hedge of w hieb formed a border to a seldom used raid tiley weie verv fond ot the haws and seldom went to the cucalypts .11 tint cou'd be heard whUe Ihey wen feeding «vu.
the constant cracking of the little nuts in_ side the fruit Ihey always had a keen" sighted sentrv on gu ird Originally only two pairs visited the hedge, but m succeed ing years they increased m number to about -0 After they had practically devoured all the bernes which took ten weeks tiny went back into the big timber until the foi
lowing autumn