Plants of Canterbury--Turnip--Tutu--Ferns--Ti Palm--Birds--Paradise Duck--Tern--Quail--Wood Hen--Robin--Linnet--Pigeon--Moa--New Parroquet--Quadrupeds--Eels--Insects--Weta--Lizards.
The flora of this province is very disappointing,and the absence of beautiful flowers adds to the uninteresting character which too generally pervades the scenery,save among the great Southern Alps themselves.There is no burst of bloom as there is in Switzerland and Italy,and the trees being,with few insignificant exceptions,all evergreen,the difference between winter and summer is chiefly perceptible by the state of the grass and the temperature.I do not know one really pretty flower which belongs to the plains;I believe there are one or two,but they are rare,and form no feature in the landscape.I never yet saw a blue flower growing wild here,nor indeed one of any other colour but white or yellow;if there are such they do not prevail,and their absence is sensibly felt.We have no soldanellas and auriculas,and Alpine cowslips,no brilliant gentians and anemones.
We have one very stupid white gentian;but it is,to say the least of it,uninteresting to a casual observer.We have violets,very like those at home,but they are small and white,and have no scent.We have also a daisy,very like the English,but not nearly so pretty;we have a great ugly sort of Michaelmas daisy too,and any amount of spaniard.Ido not say but that by hunting on the peninsula,one might find one or two beautiful species,but simply that on the whole the flowers are few and ugly.The only plant good to eat is Maori cabbage,and that is swede turnip gone wild,from seed left by Captain Cook.Some say it is indigenous,but I do not believe it.The Maoris carry the seed about with them,and sow it wherever they camp.I should rather write,USEDto sow it where they CAMPED,for the Maoris in this island are almost a thing of the past.
The root of the spaniard,it should be added,will support life for some little time.
Tutu (pronounced toot)is a plant which abounds upon the plains for some few miles near the river-beds;it is at first sight not much unlike myrtle,but is in reality a wholly different sort of plant;it dies down in the winter,and springs up again from its old roots.These roots are sometimes used for firewood,and are very tough,so much so as not unfrequently to break ploughs.It is poisonous for sheep and cattle if eaten on an empty stomach.
New Zealand is rich in ferns.We have a tree-fern which grows as high as twenty feet.We have also some of the English species;among them Ibelieve the Hymenophyllum Tunbridgense,with many of the same tribe.Isee a little fern which,to my eyes,is our English Asplenium Trichomanes.Every English fern which I know has a variety something like it here,though seldom identical.We have one to correspond with the adder's tongue and moonwort,with the Adiantum nigrum and Capillus Veneris,with the Blechnum boreale,with the Ceterach and Ruta muraria,and with the Cystopterids.I never saw a Woodsia here;but I think that every other English family is represented,and that we have many more besides.On the whole,the British character of many of the ferns is rather striking,as indeed is the case with our birds and insects;but,with a few conspicuous exceptions,the old country has greatly the advantage over us.
The cabbage-tree or ti palm is not a true palm,though it looks like one.It has not the least resemblance to a cabbage.It has a tuft of green leaves,which are rather palmy-looking at a distance,and which springs from the top of a pithy,worthless stem,varying from one to twenty or thirty feet in height.Sometimes the stem is branched at the top,and each branch ends in a tuft.The flax and the cabbage-tree and the tussock-grass are the great botanical features of the country.Add fern and tutu,and for the back country,spear-grass and Irishman,and we have summed up such prevalent plants as strike the eye.
As for the birds,they appear at first sight very few indeed.On the plains one sees a little lark with two white feathers in the tail,and in other respects exactly like the English skylark,save that he does not soar,and has only a little chirrup instead of song.There are also paradise ducks,hawks,terns,red-bills,and sand-pipers,seagulls,and occasionally,though very rarely,a quail.
The paradise duck is a very beautiful bird.The male appears black,with white on the wing,when flying:when on the ground,however,he shows some dark greys and glossy greens and russets,which make him very handsome.He is truly a goose,and not a duck.He says "whiz"through his throat,and dwells a long time upon the "z."He is about the size of a farmyard duck.The plumage of the female is really gorgeous.Her head is pure white,and her body beautifully coloured with greens and russets and white.She screams,and does not say "whiz."Her mate is much fonder of her than she is of him,for if she is wounded he will come to see what is the matter,whereas if he is hurt his base partner flies instantly off and seeks new wedlock,affording a fresh example of the superior fidelity of the male to the female sex.When they have young,they feign lameness,like the plover.I have several times been thus tricked by them.One soon,however,becomes an old bird oneself,and is not to be caught with such chaff any more.We look about for the young ones,clip off the top joint of one wing,and leave them;thus,in a few months'time,we can get prime young ducks for the running after them.The old birds are very bad eating.I rather believe they are aware of this,for they are very bold,and come very close to us.There are two that constantly come within ten yards of my hut,and I hope mean to build in the neighbourhood,for the eggs are excellent.Being geese,and not ducks,they eat grass.The young birds are called flappers till they can fly,and can be run down easily.
The hawk is simply a large hawk,and to the unscientific nothing more.
