TasNat 1907 Vol1 No1 Pp6-10 Elliott SwanShooting

7/30/2019 TasNat 1907 Vol1 No1 Pp6-10 Elliott SwanShooting

1/5

THE TASMANIAN NATURALIST.express our thanks for, and have placedon recor.'d, the whole-heau,fed in tl'estyou have taken in the ,club's welfare .Y.ou kindly undertook t'he chairmanshipof th e Club at its inception, and it", presoent successful standing is due in latgc

m e a S l : ~ ' e to the scientific ability you displayed as its leader. The members willlong remember your usefulness, and hopt:that in the wider circle you returning to thefcL'mation, g,['owth, and scientific endeaVOUl'S of the Tasmanian FieldNaturalists' Club will be a source ofpleasure to you in hours of revfL'ie.-We

at'e, dear sir, yours very truly, on behalfof members, Samuel Clemes (chairman).E. A. Elliott (hon, secretary). ToGel'ard Smit'h, ' 'Esq., :lI.R.C.S" L.S.A.,etc., 'Hobm:t."Dr. Smith eXf['esse(l his pleasure atreceidng this letter from his fellolY,

members, and said he regretted verymuch leaving them, and envied them thebeautiful collecting gl'ounds of Hobart.His connection with the Club had beenvery enjoyable, and i f he had been ofany'service 'he lYas glad.

Mare6 Meeting.The monthly meeting of the Club washeld in th e Masonic Hall on the 7thMarch. M.r, J. Edgar Smithpl.'esided, andthere was a good attendance.Ma'. P. Lockwood, Nile, was elected amember of the club.

. A specimen, gL'owing in a, pot, of a fernnew to Tasmania was shown by }1r. L.Rodway, Government IBotanist, sent fromDuck: R i w ~ r , N.E. Tas., by Mr. K. Harri.son. Fronds Ol ' leaves only had previously been sent, and had already beel!exhibited befn'e the Club, when Mr. Rodway ,had conside.red it to be PolypodiumHillii, but with whoIe plants to hand herecognised i t as p. pennigerum, hithdoonly found in New Zealand, and nowmaking two species of ferns found inTasmania and New Zealand and nowhereelse. The sewetary 'CMr. E. A. Elliott)exhibited a live young black swan (Chenopsis atrata) about eight weeks old,which he had obtained from tl1e SwanRiver. This bird attracted considerableattention fl'om those present, and made

its p ~ p i n g call frequently thl:oughout themeetmg. I t was eov! cd WIth down ofa d-a.rk fawn ;COIOD\', . the under surfacebeing lighter. -Mr. A. M. I , e ~ , Government Entomologist, exhibited some casesof showy moths and butterflies f ~ ' o mQueensland an d India, and some. of the8mallest beetles found in Tasm,tma. ~ l r ,J. E. Smith showed some curious "faulted pebbJ.es" obtained from Scotland.:Mr. A. L. Butler then read a paperon "'HiL'd Life," written by Mrs. H. L.Robel ts , of {Bmumaris, and which appears in this issue.Dl'. F, N oetling, Ph.D., g,tYe a leeh.ul'ette on th e g'eological form,l tions atSouth Brid


2/5

THE TASMANIAN NATURALIST.Mr. T,ylney Cotton, two others, andmyself started in a whaleboat to reaCllthe banks In Moulting Lagoof., 25 mile,tlistant, where th e shooting takps place.In an hour or two we crossed the barof the Swan River, which W'l', Ililffieultto filll\ as it is ahvaYl3 shallow and shif:.it s position. The tide \ Y a ~ runnin6strong'ly out of Moulting Lagoon ttclose to them. When disturbeo theyflew Mgh in the nil', and the:r hrge b i l i ~and throats could !be distinctly noticed, Thepelicans wel'e 'formerly mCl'e numerous,and through being seen a t certain pl'aces ( 7 )

more frequently than a t others, tilt)name " P e l l l ~ a n Hocks" has bepn given toa ridge stretching ncross dte mouth 01Pelic,tn R1Y, one of the fir:;'; bays m,'tin sailing up Swan River. P.,itlcan :Betyis on the north-east side of Sw,)n .t{iye,,a nU: here Ithe fll'si hlru:ik siwans (Chell'opiitatr:lt.t) were seen. On other s'Jrleof the ril'er a few miles higher ;]f;is King's Bay, extenc\ing probablyfor some four miles at lea&t. Thewhole shor2 Lt King'" B.ty was lined.fairlv thickly With swans and this bavis o;ly one 'of many w h ~ r e these bIrdsare to be tc.und in numbers. AboveKmg's Bay, .Moulting Lagoon narrowssomewhat, being perhaps two milesbroad, and here is th e lower bank, 10miles from th e mouth of Swan River.This bank is under about 18in. of water- t he navigable channel being in themiddle-ani the swan shooT,en line thebank from shore to shore, standing inth e water. There were many wild ducksof various species about, and very l:trgeflocks of them were seen. During tht:'shooting on the opening da y they wereflying oV


3/5

THE TASMANIAN NATURALIST.the water when flying (never acro,;"land), they must pass over the "guns"i f the bird. flv in their direction. Theboats were taken back into the channel,'and I stayell ill the whnleboat, as thutwa;; 'di l l be.t spot to witne.,s the proceedings frolll. Birds were already Jly-ing-sometime. only one, or tw o andthree together; sometimes in flocks oftwenty 01 ' thirty. At other time,; theywould come in I'ery big flocks, and bycounting 100 birds, then taking an approximately equal number further alongthe line. this total (:WO) being repeatedin like m:lllner, it would soon be foundthat there were at least from 1000 to1500 swans in one flight. The shootingwas mostly over by 1),30, and during th i .!time many flocks flew pas't, although itwas said la tl'" that the birds did not flywell on that day. How many swansthere were on the wing (which onlyformed a small part of the countlessl1umbers left in the bays) would 'be :JB-yond my preilent mean., of even guessing-suffice it to say '[here were manythousands. When a flock is flyingthe black bodies of "the swans do notshow ou t against the dark backgroun,lof the hills, but only the large feat henof the wings (the primaries and secon'daries), which are white, and the bird:;are therefore c:llled in 'that part "whitllwings"-a name I have not heard applied to them elsewhere. Sometimesthese primaries are shaded with black.and one qnite black swan has been seen.On the other lmnd, two birds quite whiteha Ye been seen there-probably albinospecimens. Fnll-grown swans measureabout 4ft. Uin. from bill to end of tailand 6ft. Gin. from tip to tip of outstretched wings, but t.hey vary considerably. Actual measurements of two are:- ( a ) Bill to tail, 4ft. 6in.; tip to ti p ofwings, 5ft. Wirr.; each wing, 2ft. Hin.(b) Bill to tail, 4ft. lin.; 'tip to tip ofwings, 6ft. 7in.; each wing, 2ft. llin. Tenswans which were killed on this occasionwere weighed, and the average was13.6lb., but they vary in weight fromIOlb. to nearly 201b' Mr. Cotton saidthe he,wiest 'bird he had weighedwas ll)ilb. I t is a curious factthat 'the large primary feathers of theseswans come out at a slight pull, as instretching their wings to mea\;they are coming to the gun.,. Flyillgwith a good breeze they wiU travel atthe rate of 60 to 80 mile$ Cl!} hour, sothat it Is not of much use r,o fire whenthey have passed. Those a c , m ~ t o m e l l Loswan shooting aim some 15 ()r 20 feet:ahead of the birds, A record wasestablished on this occasion by aswan being shot 'dead at 120 yuds rangewith 10 shot gun, and, a fio,'t anothertime five b'lrds were seen to dropinto the water simultaneously, Whatendless ways they fal' through the air!Sometimes when killed outright at a gooj

e ~ e v a t i o n they hit the water wlth a loudsplash, making the spra,y fly, 50metlmesturning over and over, or n ~ a i ! l fallingas if they would shun the lV:lter. being}(,th to leave their flight, anl\ WCould dropslowly to the surface. The spent shotdropped in the watel' with a constantpatter,sometimes hitting the boats or fall-


4/5

tHE TASMA T[AN111).( fuUnt! the S(lurt'511I('U. \\7h('1I " W ~ I I I " al':!)Iit. hMli, nut. killed uutl'ight.., 1.h:::),Il y wit.h mu\,iunlc,,:;, 1 i g l ~ t . . ! y (troopingw l ug . en'! ' II l 'an'! ' Lhc. ! : i l l r r \ ~ ( ; . of t ~ L C\\'llcl', . ~ k l m oreI' i t fo!' a 1H,g WilY, andt,l'('ll cLUe, pl'l'lllIpl:l twu ' I ! l ~ ( ' " aII' l l).

:l11i.) swi m flld ,ill.'\' on. [eul luh t \ eight. , )I 'tell tlut. \,h\1:1 goi. uu\' uf :: ight. !t .\;';lS Sili\1 Unit. lIn: . rouser,," \I]'CII return-ili;'; woull! pio.:k LlIl'1IL Ill" .H :1.30 a.llI.lIi.ljOl'ity cc,lscd firing, nn \1 (Ir,lggcd theirloin!;; to t.he un,Jlg, whcl"'; they W C I ' ~

11 i \ ' idNI- ' ;Ol l lC : ; h o u t l ' l ' ~ h,1 \ \x:cll 011&-cl.l"Sl'{'j in g Ulls :Iwl .:Ikill j l lui , . )t a singl!!' . inl, while sl ' \ 'e l' .I1 ~ h o l l I \ ; l l1Y [ ' lOl 'e ill I I I11,e,), Ilcl'l.tcd, so llla Lilo th';llI iJird5 WCl"e leftu...l, liml , alld I:ntil hi t,';',Lite I.ll'gC f1t)(",k.., whith li re 'Ihot ,I t t\ urin"lllc t i r i l ' ( ' ~ , ll lltl a rc ~ e \ ' t l \ I{'ft f t . i . > n ~hy the :>po \ ' lim clI, The I'et..u't\ t ri p lI'a"r ' ) l I l l l \ t ' l Icd HUOllL JO o'dOck , 11:,1 f:\\'OU1"ah',e Wilh} enaIJlrd 115 lu most o f L!toI\ ' ,y . For $el'cl-;,1I lIlilrg l I f t"r l ( ' a \ ' i l l ~ t:1C11.1 Ilk \lp,HI lJil'lls wcrc OI.!clll1Otl'llJy ::;e(,lI ,alld OIH' or tw o WCl'e pk",',1 I Ip, lite0;[11('1"';; Iwing left For l>1lel' uO,lls, A uo llt

A YOUNG BLACK SWAN (ChcllOPi.'J atra ta).I9 )


5/5

THE tASMANiAN NATURAlist.foul" or five miles down the water wasseen to be covered with feathn's.which Paocific gulls had torn frOII, a C.YP n,Wl:;hing to capture a l i t L ~ c 'Wgnet, oneof a PHty of three or I.Jur swimminghi front of the boat, was singlec\ out,ailll as i t was l'Ilpidly gaineo upon, tb.ubird was soon lifted from the water - ~ n Jplaced in the boat. On lJP,i:lg' broughtto Hoklrt it became eXJCeildinglYl tame,and eviucntly enjoyed life, in jpss thanfh'c weeks ga'lning in weig1lt from libIOoz. to over 41h. When callght it8upposet! to be about four weeks o'td,an d a photo of it (reproullcet! in theillustrated section) was ~ a k ( ; n a\ ce!,aftr. The billsano eyes of young [wansore bbek, but change to ret! htnI. When

the feathers are plucked from a blackswan i t tllen looks snowy white,the o:1own not being attached to thefeathers but separate. With the youngcapture'cl bird it was noticed that thenest down with which many youngoirdsare 1C0vered on hatcMng from the shdlt!id no t give place to feathers, which Istiw general rule, but to the true down,ant! the feathers appear later. This downwas not white, but a fawn colour. Wearrived at Kelve(\Jn again I'n rioayafternoon with some of the swans. _nefolio wing day I started on the returnto Hou:ut, after having witilessed int hose large flocks of m a g n i f i l ~ e n t bi:,.1s oneof th e finest s'lghts of its Kind, and longmay it remain.

1:Jisf of :1Ilembers.*Anthol1v E :-;; lWzabeth an d Ihvpvstre;t's, H o b ~ r t . '*Atkins, C. J . Audleysheet, Hobad.*Atkins, W. N., ~ I o o n a h .Atkinson, R. H., Ft'iends' High S c h o o ~Hohad.

BaylltoJl, H. J., Bo,t Vl,;ta-roatl. NorthHobart.*Beattie, J. W., Elizahethstreet, Hobaort.Beedham,11iss, vV'arwicks:tr.eet, Hobart.Bcedh,tlll, Lo, Walwick-street, Hobart."'Bell, 11iss, Lindisfarne."'Black, R. A., Dept. Agriculture, Hobart.Boxall. J., clo 1lessrs. Bn'gess P, os.,Hob:trt. -*Brpnt, A. K, A u ~ t i n " ; Ferry.HHH\' l le 11 , F. L.. Stoke,trpet, Hob:U't."'Hutler, A. L., 11ul'ray-street, l Iok. t.Cato. \Y. C . I.'loUds D ~ p t . , D l\eystreet.Ch"]llllell, H. C. D . Swanf;treet. Hob:ll't."'{,ll'mes, S . Le"lie Hou,.;('. Ne,,' Town.*Colbollrn, H.. ., ('oullcil of .\gl'icult:r-e,Hobmt."'Conlon, A., COllncil of Agriculture,

Hob'll't."'Cook, J. V .. D:lln:1.iustrcpt, Hobart.Crookall, W., Smithstreet, Hoba.rt.

D'EllHlen, F.ank, 1ft. Stuart, Hohart.D'Emden, Thos., Mt. Stuart, Hobart.Dove, H. Stuart, DeYOllport West.Duthoit, N., Bellerive.

*EII!ott, O. H., H i g h - ~ I . e e t , Hohat"t.*Elhott, E. A., High-street, Hobal't.*Gibson, Dr. G., Macquariestreet, Hobart

( 10 )

"'Ha.rcourt, Alec., rystreet, Hobart.Hardcastle, :cr'. C., 1Iltcquariestreet.,Hobart.*Harrison, M. \V., Glenrr:chy.Ha'vey, R. C., ) L 1 c q u a ~ i e s t r e e t , Hobarl.

Irvine, }liss, Friends' High School,Hobart.Johnson, J. A., Training 'College, Hobart.*Johnston, R. 111., LlS.O., GovernmentStatistician, Hobart.Ke.rmode, M i ~ s D., "Oorol1

TasNat 1907 Vol1 No1 Pp6-10 Elliott SwanShooting

Documents