VIII. Petane Swamp—The Banded Rail.

The Esk River in Hawke's Bay possesses two mouths—the normal exit by way of the Petane lagoon or inner harbour, the flood escape directly through the beach. By far the larger deposit of silt is carried directly out to sea, but often, especially during rainstorms from the east, hours elapse before the weight of accumulated water is sufficient to burst through the shingle and sand barrier. Until that occurs much flood water is carried into the upper end of the Petane lagoon, and deposited over several hundred acres of marsh and mud.

In certain lights the colouring of these swamps is gorgeous, immense ruby carpets of azolla crimson the surface, these carpets after showers bearing myriads of crystal-clear water diamonds. Vast beds of yellow cotula make a brave show. Stiff patches of ferruginous rush extend here and there over great areas. On the drier lands grow page break

Banded Rail, M. And F.

page break page 85 grey-green fields of sappy samphire, whilst almost in the soft mud of the crab-bored tidal creeks luxuriates the beautiful, open-throated, orange-blossomed marsh mimulus, like a good deed in a naughty world. The most common plant is a sombre rush. Of it there are many scores of acres—stretches in some places matted and deep, almost waterproof with the growth of many seasons, elsewhere after fires, thinner and more open. These levels are intersected by muddy sinuous creeks, quagmires so deep in ooze that waders up to the armpits had to be worn—garments excellent for the Aberdeenshire Dee in April, where I have found the coiled line stiffen between each cast and seen tiny icicles on the rod rings, but warm indeed when donned in a Hawke's Bay November.

This estuary in ancient days must have been full of Duck, Rail, Pukeko, Bittern, and other marsh birds. Now but a few of each survive. The survival, however, of any at all seemed a marvel, as day after day revealed the number of rats. Their innumerable wicked pads were thickly printed on the fresh mud; everywhere we found the eggs of birds destroyed, everywhere the shellfish devoured. In Hawke's Bay the harm done to bird life by the rat is greater, I believe, than the harm done by all other agencies combined.

During our first day's wallowing in the mire we got the new nests of four pairs of Banded Rail, in every case with eggs broken and destroyed. During our second day one nest was discovered containing whole eggs; they were cold and wet, the feathers scattered thick about the nest's edge, showing where the bird had been seized. During the third day four nests were obtained, each of them containing eggs freshly sucked. During the fourth day two nests were found with eggs newly laid and broken. On a later expedition we got eight more new nests containing broken shells. Our total bag was twenty-one nests of the Banded Rail, the eggs of eighteen of which had been-destroyed by rats.

When our search began we had instinctively avoided the vicinity of settlers' houses. Before it had ended those rush beds in the propinquity of cottages and roads were discovered to be the most likely spots. Only three nests were obtained whole, sound, and warm, and each of these unspoiled clutches was in close proximity to human settlement, two of them near to settlers' houses, the third within a chain of the roadside. Nothing indeed could prove more incontestably the damage done by rats than thus to discover that the household cat had actually become a protection to this small species, a fact the more remarkable because of the cat's partiality for the smaller Rails. Not page break

Banded Rail Nest And Eggs.

page break page break page break

Banded Rail (M.)

page 87 once but many times I have been given birds thus captured and carried in alive; many museum specimens, too, have been obtained in this way.

With one exception, the nests, perfect or otherwise, were built preferably over water in very thick-matted layers of rush. The exceptional nest was built into a tall densely-tufted niggerhead. The nests themselves are rude structures composed entirely of broken, dry, brittle rush-stems. Above several of them, in addition to the usual natural protection, there had evidently been a rude attempt at bower-building. Green rushes had been pulled together, as the Pukeko gathers and entwines over its nest long grasses and tall raupo blades. Four or five eggs is the number laid. They are smaller than those of the Pukeko, and more rounded. The ground colour is light stone, handsomely marked with spots and blotches, ranging from dark purple to brown and faint grey. Spots are most numerous at the thick end of the egg.

From the heaps of droppings and from the appearance of the trampled vegetation about the nest, I imagine that the habits of this Rail resemble generally those of his relative the Pukeko. Like the Pukeko, too, the Banded Rail leaves his bath with a series of leaps and bounds; like the Pukeko also, he dries his wings by stretching them over his back, fully exposed to the sun. Of calls, by far the most frequent is one something page 88 akin to the pheasant's cheerful chirrup; another resembles in some degree the metallic chirp of the Fern - bird; another used when leading off the young, or in anxiety about the nest, is a cheep resembling that of a strong nestling. The breed is, in fact, quite hardy, and with ordinary care can be reared as easily as poultry. I have seen them thriving and rearing offspring in an aviary thronged with other birds. Though because of furtive and recluse habits the bird is seldom seen, its footmarks may be found on the mud of all suitable spots. Even on fern lands the breed is sparsely sprinkled over tens of thousands of acres. It is nevertheless rarely visible, never taking wing except when hard-pressed. Its slow deliberate flight in the open I have seen but thrice; on each occasion it was a lure to divert attention from the chicks.

The food of the bird consists of land snails, worms, and the insect life of slow-flowing creeks. The chicks are for the first few days perfectly black. If caught within an hour or two of hatching they evince no fear, and will feed from the hand, striking at food offered, in a most hearty active fashion. The Banded Rail is a species sure to survive by reason of its productivity, its habits of wandering, and its genius for concealment.

Banded Rail Nest And Eggs

Chicks Of Banded Rail.