Lamb, Calf and Pet Day 
by WALTER HIRSH photographs by GORDON BURNS

IN THE little farming district of Aokautere, near Palmerston North, each 
year seems to be marked by several special
events. One of these is Lamb, Calf and Pet Day. It is like a festival and 
is held each November at the local school.
The day has its beginnings for the children, back in winter or early 
spring. It may begin in July, when a calf is born
that has to be reared by hand. It may begin on a bleak day in August, when 
a ewe has twins and deserts the weaker
lamb. Or, perhaps, a ewe dies just after giving birth to a lamb. These 
little animals are often adopted by country
children as their pets. The children feed them, clean them, play with them 
and in some cases get very attached to
them. This care continues and excitement rises as the day approaches when 
they will be able to bring their pets to school.
Everybody is happy when the day dawns fine and sunny. Some children arrive 
at school very early. They help the
teachers and a few fathers with the preparations. Tents are put up, the 
judging ring is arranged, and rows and rows of cages are made ready for the smaller pets which have been entered in the various 
competitions. Cats, dogs, fish,
goslings, rabbits, guinea pigs, canaries, and even an opossum, have been 
entered in the pet section. Stalls, to be run
by the children, are also arranged. Everything is ready as the first 
children arrive with their pets.
Tractors with trays on the back, vans, horse-floats, trucks, and cars 
pulling trailers, are all used to bring the animals.
Children flock to the gates as more and more animals arrive for the judging 
which begins at one o'clock. Stephen is
one of the senior boys at the school. After unloading his calf from his 
father's tractor, he ties it to the fence. Although
quite a bit of work has been done, some last-minute preparation is still 
necessary. Stephen gets busy with a special
brush and tries to remove any loose hair which may still be in the calf's 
coat.
In another area of the grounds children are checking their lambs. Sandra 
and Malcolm look through the fleeces of
their lambs to make sure that no bits of grass or dirt are caught in the 
wool.
By midday a large number of parents, friends and relations have joined the 
children, and the grounds look crowded
and gay. Many things seem to be happening. Some children work on their lamb 
and calves. Others find time to look
at the display of smaller pets and dogs. Some have duties in the stalls 
which are opened for about an hour before
judging begins. Cakes, vegetables, plants, sweets, jams, preserves and 
other things are sold by the children to raise
money for their school.
In one corner, Geoffrey and Michael, both Standard 2 boys, are recording people's guesses in the lamb weight-guessing 
competition. While the children are so busy the parents are also active. Some are buying at the stalls. Others stand in small 
groups and chat, while a few lend a hand with the last-minute cleaning of calves.
Well before one o'clock, the stalls are closed, and as the judges in their white coats move into the ring, everyone gathers round 
the arena. The senior calf competition is to be judged first, and Stephen is hoping to do well in this. Mr Galloway, the judge, has 
brought an assistant with him, Mr Bennett, a member of the School Committee. Wendy and Sheryl, two of the senior girls, will 
be helping the judges in the ring.
The senior pupils parade their animals round the ring. Mr Galloway watches carefully and judges the leading competition. He is 
very particular in judging the care and attention contest. There are many things to look at. He looks to see how the calf stands and 
walks. He examines the coat to see that it has a sheen about it. He examines the shape of the animal and its udder. He checks to 
see that the calf has four teats correctly placed so that it will be a good milker. He looks to see that the calf has big nostrils 
through which it can take in enough air. He examines the mouth to see that the teeth meet the upper pad neatly. He checks that 
there is no loose hair, that the hind quarters are clean and that the calf is well covered with flesh. But most of all, perhaps, he 
looks to see if the calf and its master are good friends. He looks for a friendship between the calf and the child looking after it.
As Mr Galloway and his assistant complete their judging in each section, the children march their calves into line.
The winners and the place-getters are announced, and all the people clap.
The junior calf contest for children from the Infants to Standard 2 is next. The calf judging takes quite a while. When it
is completed, Mr Galloway congratulates the children on the standard of their entries.
Excitement rises. All the children who have entered lambs in the competitions run to the fences, untie their pets and lead them to 
the ringside. Mr Stone from Feilding is the lamb judge. There are 64 children at 
Aokautere school. Over
30 of them have entered lambs. Mr Stone will be busy. Judging the junior lamb-leading contest is 
hard, as 22 children
lead their lambs in a large circle round Mr Stone. Gradually, the judge sorts out those lambs which 
are most obedient
and walk best by their masters' sides. Some lambs strain a little on their leads. Some are restless 
as they are not
used to being in such a big crowd. Some have not had enough leading practice. Mr Stone calls the 
place-getters into
line and presents them with their rosettes.
When judging the care and attention section, Mr Stone, like Mr Galloway, has a thorough look at the lambs. He examines the 
wool to see if it has a fine texture and quality. He looks at the lambs' eyes to see that they are large and bright. He examines their 
ears and cheeks to see that the skin is a clear healthy pink. He also looks at the shape of the lamb, watches how it walks, and 
looks 
to see that it
holds its head up well. Mr Stone also looks to see that the lamb has a broad rib cage, so that it 
will have plenty of
room for its heart and lungs. Then, like Mr Galloway, he looks very closely to see if the lamb and 
its master are good
friends.
In fact, the most popular event of the day helps to show if the lamb and its master are friends. 
This is the lamb-calling competition. Parents, and children without lambs, surround the arena while those with 
pets go to one side
of the ring. Each child, in turn, goes to the far side while his lamb is held. The holder lets the 
lamb go and its master
begins calling. Some lambs seem pleased to be off the lead. They walk a little and then stop to 
nibble grass. Other
lambs walk towards their master but turn away at the last minute. Others head in the wrong direction 
and are caught
by the guards round the ring. As each lamb has its turn, everyone wonders if any will be successful this year. Suddenly, there is a 
cry of 
delight and a lot of clapping as Alasdair's
lamb, Tommy, walks with head held high, straight to his master's 
outstretched hand. Other lambs reach their masters
too, but none as quickly as Alasdair's. Alasdair, his mother and his 
grandparents who came out from town for the
day, are all very pleased.
And so, the judging ends, but all is not over. In a short ceremony the 
children are presented with their award
certificates.
A few small cups are also presented and then there is afternoon tea. 
Parents eat and chat indoors. The children enjoy food and drink which has been set out for them on a table in the playground. 
Some finish quickly and run to the paddock to take rides on Blaze, David's pony.
It has been a great day. While Stephen and his friends enjoy pony rides, and while others take a quick dip in the school 
swimming pool, still others gather up the calves, lambs and smaller pets and return them to their parents' cars.
The carnival is over. Many people are tired. For some there has been a lot of work. But it has been 
worth it. A few people just sit and chat in the quiet of the late afternoon.
Someone says, 'It's been a great day.' Indeed it has been like a wonderful festival. And as the 
children of Aokautere pin their award certificates on their walls, or pop them into their
drawers that night, they think of the fun they have had and of how wonderful the pets have been. 
Then, tired and happy, they fall into deep and restful sleep.

Sparrows
Part One by R. E. BROCKIE
drawings by T. Plaisted

THERE are two kinds of sparrows in New Zealand. The one we see most of is 
the house sparrow. The other kind is
the hedge sparrow.
House sparrows always live together in groups. They never go far from 
each other. Feeding, nesting, roosting, they
are always able to see and hear the other members of their group.
Sparrows are very noisy little birds for most of the year. However, about 
March, soon after school begins, the
sparrows are silent. They hunt for their food and hop about very quietly.
This is because the sparrows are losing their old feathers and growing 
new ones. We call this "moulting". The old
feathers are worn and look dusty. While they are dropping out, and the 
new ones are growing, the sparrows cannot fly
very well. If they are quiet there is less chance that cats and birds 
that hunt them will notice the sparrows.
Sparrows spend all the daylight hours near the trees they will build 
their nests in. They may fly a hundred yards or so in search of food, or to have a dustbath, but most of the time they keep close to 
their nesting trees.
As it gets dark, however, the sparrows may fly a long way to roost 
together for the night. They have been seen flying
four or five miles from the edges of a town to roost together at the 
centre. Some people have noticed that they fly to
roost at the same time every night. When it is wet and dark though, they 
go to bed earlier.
A man who was watching sparrows to learn about them, counted fourteen 
thousand roosting in the centre of
Hastings. Big numbers roost in the Square at Palmerston North, in 
Courtenay Place in Wellington, and in most other
towns.
They roost in evergreen trees that do not lose their leaves in winter. 
The best trees have leaves that grow close
together and protect the sparrows from wind and rain. In some places they 
perch in pohutukawa trees which have
thick masses of leaves.
We see so many sparrows that it seems there must be more of them than any 
other bird. But sparrows gather where
people gather, in cities and townships. Where there are people there are usually places for sparrows to roost and nest, and there is 
also food for them. Because they live near people, there are few sparrows in the bush and open country. Although there seem to 
be so many sparrows there may be more waxeyes or chaffinches in New Zealand.
These birds live in the countryside and in the bush, from sea-level to 
the tops of our hills.
The scientific name for the house sparrow is Passer domesticus. This 
means "a flutterer about the house".
Like the house sparrow, the hedge sparrow was brought to New Zealand from 
Britain about a hundred years ago.
Hedge sparrows are different. They have thin sharp beaks and
live alone among the low bushes and hedges of our gardens and in the bush. Many live in the big pine 
forests. The
house sparrow feeds mainly upon seeds, but the hedge sparrow eats grubs and caterpillars. They also 
make different
sounds.
House sparrows like to stay near our towns and buildings but they sometimes turn up on very distant 
islands. They
appear on the Chatham Islands, and on the Campbell and Auckland Islands far to the south of New 
Zealand, and build nests there. We do not know whether they wanted to fly to these places or whether they were just blown there 
by strong winds.
Living in a group all the time is a good thing for sparrows. If one bird finds a lot of food he lets the others know and they all feed. 
If one bird sees danger he warns the rest of the flock. Sparrows have a special warning cry. When it is given the whole flock 
takes off and flies to safety. Sparrows have many enemies. Cats, stoats, ferrets, hawks, moreporks, owls and magpies all hunt  
sparrows. A man who was learning about sparrows opened the stomach of a hawk and found it had fourteen of them 
inside. But
although these birds and animals kill them, many more freeze and starve to death during the cold 
winter.
Sparrows have been kept alive in cages for ten years. But most wild sparrows die long before this. In 
Britain, where
men have watched them very closely, most sparrows die before they are two years old. Very few small 
birds live
longer than this. Cold and lack of food usually kill them between one and two years of age.
Their main food is grass seeds. Flocks of sparrows often work slowly across lawns, paddocks and 
playing fields.
After they have gone it is worth looking at the grass plants. All their tiny seeds will have gone, 
eaten by the sparrows.
Seeds make very good food. We eat all kinds of seeds ourselves: beans, peas, lentils, barley, wheat and 
corn are some of
them. People who live in Auckland often see dozens of sparrows eating wheat that has been spilled 
from trucks on
the wharves and the roads. The sparrows soon learn when a ship is unloading wheat, and they always get a good meal at this 
time.
In winter the days are short and the nights are long. The sparrows have to spend all the time they can at the job of finding enough 
food. This means they are busy all the daylight hours. It is the time of year when they most like to be given crumbs and scraps of 
food. This little bit extra might just carry them through another winter.
There will be a second article on the sparrow in the next Part 2 Journal.

A female house sparrow.
A hedge sparrow feeds its family.

Sparrows Part Two
by R. E. BROCKIE
 drawings by Trevor Plaisted

This is the second of two articles on sparrows published in the Part 2 School Journal this year.

A cock sparrow taking food to his unusual nest, a flower pot fixed to a wall.

SPARROWS SOMETIMES SEEM to chirp all day. They might be outside the 
classroom or the kitchen, keeping up
their loud chirp, chirp. It is only the cock sparrow, the male, that chirps 
like this.
It is easy to tell the cock sparrow from the hen sparrow. He is the one who 
does all the chirping. He is also more brightly coloured than the hen bird. On his chest he has a patch of black feathers like a bib.
Some other male birds are brighter coloured than the hen birds. Bantam 
roosters are often very gaily coloured. The
bantam hens are often dull. Peacocks have fine tails. Their feathers have 
marks that look like shining eyes. The
peahen, the female of the peacock, has dull feathers. This may help to hide 
the hen bird when she is sitting on her nest.
The cock bird makes a lot of noise and shows off his black chest. He does this for a very good reason. He is showing himself off 
to the other sparrows. He is saying that he has found a good place to build a nest. If he chirps and flashes his black patch of 
feathers, a hen sparrow may join him. Together they will then build a nest on the spot he has found.
People who want to sell things put advertisements in the paper, on the radio and on TV. The cock 
sparrow is trying to "sell" himself. His
advertisement is his chirping and his patch of black feathers.
The cock sparrows start their advertising - chirping, and showing off their black chests - at the beginning of winter. Most birds do 
nothing
about nesting until the spring or summer, but the cock sparrow begins his chirping about May. The 
hen, sparrows take very little notice of
his advertising while the winter lasts.
Sometimes the cock sparrows chase the hens. It is as if they had got tired of chirping. Five or more 
cock sparrows may pick on a single
hen bird. They fly after her in a very noisy chase. Often, the hen hides under a bush or in a corner, 
unable to escape. The male birds
dance round, their wings and tails spread wide to show the bright feathers. This chase often finishes with the hen and the cock 
sparrows pecking at each other. Sometimes the male birds will show themselves off in other ways. They may carry pieces of torn 
paper, white feathers, straws, flowers.
Gardeners sometimes have to cover bright flowers with nets or strands of cotton to save the petals from being torn.
While all this goes on, the hens ignore the cock sparrows and their advertising. They go on as if the 
cock birds were not there.
After four or five months of noisy chirping, the cock sparrows begin to build nests. In August you 
can see them carrying grass and straw
to build with, and chasing other birds away from the trees they have chosen. They sometimes chase 
away much bigger birds, such as
starlings, pigeons, and even seagulls.
At last, about September, their chirping and advertising is rewarded. The hens join them and help to build the nests.
The nests are usually made in evergreen trees in New Zealand. They are built high up in pines, gums, 
poplars, in macrocarpa hedges
and, sometimes, in ivy and creepers growing up the walls of tall buildings.
Sparrows first came from Europe. There they usually nest in holes in the walls of brick and stone buildings. We have very few 
stone buildings in New Zealand, and the sparrows have to use trees instead.
Sparrows feed in groups on the ground. Where there is one sparrow, there will be others close by. 
They are always
part of a flock of twelve or more birds. They keep in sight, or within hearing of each other, all the 
time. While feeding,
dustbathing or looking for food, they keep in touch with each other. They keep a sharp eye on any 
enemies,
chattering and chirping quietly while they hop about.
In the same way, they like to nest together. Their nests are usually in groups of 10 to 20, in one 
tree or tall hedge.
Sometimes, where there is a good food supply, the birds may build hundreds of nests near each other. 
These may be
so close that they look like a huge thatched roof, with holes here and there for each pair of 
sparrows to enter by.
 Here, high above the ground, the sparrows are safer from
cats. But, even fifty feet up, they may still be attacked by hawks, magpies, owls and moreporks, which sometimes rob their nests. 
When they keep together, however, they can work as one to drive off an attacker.
During the nesting or breeding season, the sparrows are very noisy. Around motor camps and picnic spots, in pohutukawa trees 
and macrocarpas at the beach and near playgrounds, you will hear and see them. They will be squabbling and chirping. They 
fight over food. The cock sparrows show off. The young sparrows beg. Suddenly, they all come together to drive off a big bird. 
A few minutes later they will be chasing each other away from their nests.
While they are feeding their babies, the parent birds will eat insects, instead of seeds. They catch 
cicadas, beetles,
ants and grubs, and they will still eat crumbs.
The hen lays about five eggs. As soon as they have hatched and the young birds have flown away, the 
hen will lay
more eggs.
They go on laying eggs, hatching and feeding their young until March. Once again, soon after school 
starts, they fall
silent. They begin to moult and lose their feathers.
The best way to learn new things about sparrows is by watching them and keeping a record of what you 
see.
Your class could divide into groups, each group keeping a record of a particular type of bird.
Here are some suggestions:
Draw maps of your area.
List your common birds and show where you usually see them.
Map their nesting and roosting places.
Map the "flight lines" they follow at evening to their roosts.
Find what and where they eat.
Draw the differences between young and old, female and male birds.
Include poems, stories and illustrations in your record.
If you live inland, it would be interesting to compare your records with those of a coastal school.

A taro drawn by Sue Wilkie.

Island Foods in Auckland
by JOHN BARNETT
illustrated by Sue Wilkie

AUCKLAND IS THE BIGGEST New Zealand market for Island foods from Tonga, 
Samoa, Fiji and the Cook Islands.
Although Islanders live throughout New Zealand, most of them live in 
Auckland, about 20,000 altogether.
When they come to New Zealand they want the food they have been used to 
eating at home. Our stomachs take a while to get used to new foods. Some Islanders suffer from upset stomachs caused by New 
Zealand's different foods, just as New Zealanders may take a while to get used to Island foods.
Certain of our foods, like watermelons and tomatoes, are grown in the 
Islands when it is too cold to grow them here.
This sort of food goes bad quickly, so it is brought as fast as possible from the Islands. Some of it is flown to Auckland.
Three boats do the food deliveries: the Taveuni, which goes to Samoa, Fiji and Tonga; the Tofua, which visits Niue as well; and 
the Moana Roa, which goes to Rarotonga.
Coconuts are probably the best-known of the Island foods. Most of them come 
from Samoa, Tonga and Fiji. These
are the ripe nuts with the hard white meat inside. Drinking nuts are 
brought from Rarotonga in the Cook Islands, and
Fiji. These nuts are picked when still young. The white meat, or flesh, is 
not formed, and they contain a delicious
drink.
Desiccated coconut is the flesh when it has been dried and cut up into 
little shreds. This is brought here as well as
coconut oil. The Islanders use all the different forms of coconut in their 
cooking.
Bananas come from Fiji, Tonga and Rarotonga. They are usually picked when 
still green, and turn ripe and yellow on
their way to New Zealand. Sometimes you can see them still green in the 
shops. Islanders like to cook green
bananas as vegetables, frying and boiling them.
The vee is sometimes called "the apple of the Islands". It is shaped like a 
pear, and tastes and smells good. The vee turns yellow when ripe and has juicy flesh. Vees are brought to Auckland each 
fortnight from Western Samoa and the Cook Islands.
The first mangoes to ripen each year, are those in Samoa. They are flown 
to Auckland. Later, the other islands send
their mangoes by boat. The season finishes about April.
The mango has a large nut inside. It is the yellow flesh round this nut 
that you eat. Some people say the taste of
mango reminds them of pineapple and apricot.

Breadfruit
Mango

The breadfruit is large, weighing about eight to ten pounds. Since breadfruit rot quickly once they are picked, not many are 
brought to Auckland. They are yellow and soft and fragrant when ripe, and are usually cooked before being eaten.
Tonga, Samoa and Fiji all grow sugar-cane. The Islanders like to buy the cane and eat it raw or use it for flavouring other foods 
as they are being cooked.
Yams are eaten by many Islanders as we eat bread. They grow under the soil as kumaras do. If you know your own
weight, you will be able to compare yourself to the size of a yam: they 
grow from thirty to a hundred pounds. These
huge vegetables are boiled or baked.
Pawpaws are flown from Western Samoa. They have a juicy yellow flesh and 
black seeds that shine inside them.
They are sweet and make a very good breakfast. 

Yam
Sugar Cane

As they grow all the year round in the Islands, they can always be bought in 
Auckland.
In Auckland, the best shops selling Island foods are where the Islanders live, near the centre of the city. Most of these shops are 
run by Indians, some of them from Fiji.
You may see some of these Island foods in your own fruit and vegetable shop. If you are lucky, your mother may cook some of 
them for you.
Here is something to do:
Draw a map showing the Islands. Name them and show pictures of the food 
they send to New Zealand. Show the
boats and planes bringing the Island foods. If you live in a town, find 
out what Islanders live there, and have a look for
their foods in the shops.

Geckos

GECKOS BELONG to the group of reptiles we call lizards. Most lizards have a 
long body and tail, four legs and a
scaly skin. They usually lay eggs from which their young hatch out, but in 
New Zealand, as the story "Stumpy" tells
us, geckos are born from their parents alive.
They are born during the summer. When full-grown, they may be 10-12 inches 
long.
Geckos are mostly brown, grey and dull green. They can change colour. 
"Stumpy" is one of the bright green tree
geckos, according to the story. Occasionally you may see a yellow gecko.
In 1963 and 1964, some people studied geckos and other lizards on the Poor 
Knights Islands. These are 15 miles off
the coast of the North Island of New Zealand, level with the Waipoua 
Forest. It is a very warm area, and lizards like
warmth.
The two main islands are Aorangi and Tawhiti Rahi. They have steep cliffs 
and rocky beaches. Grass, flax, scrub and
trees grow on them.
Nobody has lived on the Poor Knights since 1823, when a group of Maoris 
from the mainland attacked and killed everybody there.
Seabirds called petrels and gannets nest on these islands. Geckos live in 
the burrows that the petrels make for their
nests. They also live in the rocks round the gannets' nests.
Just as the seabirds make it possible for the geckos to live, so the geckos 
make it possible for an insect to live. This
insect is a tiny red mite which lives in the folds of the gecko's skin.
The banded rail and the kingfisher both eat geckos. Harrier hawks may eat 
them too. They are also attacked by the
tuataras which live on the Poor Knights. But there is plenty of food for 
them, it is warm, and though some get eaten
there are many more which live.
Most geckos feed and move about at night. During the day they hide under 
stones, logs, bark, in caves and hollow
trees, and in petrel burrows. If it is safe, they lie in the warm sun.
They come out after dark and move slowly, looking for insects. They hold 
their heads high, and their tongues flick out
as they hunt.
Moths, flies and small insects are their main food. One gecko on the 
islands was seen floating in some water, trying to catch mosquitoes. They also eat fruit and nectar. Over 500 were counted on one 
small pohutukawa tree, eating the
nectar in its flowers.
When it rained, the men sometimes saw the geckos drinking from little pools 
and streams.
If chased, geckos climb very quickly; their feet are well-shaped for climbing. Fine hairs underneath their feet work like suction 
cups on toy arrows to hold them on smooth surfaces. They can even climb glass.
Geckos will hiss and squeak when caught. Some people
think the sound of their name is like the noise they make.
They will also bite when caught. It used to be thought that they were poisonous, but we have found out that they are not. At one 
time people believed it was dangerous even to touch them.
Like many lizards, the geckos have a tail that drops off very
easily. In this photograph you can see where a new tail has
grown.
This is very useful to the gecko. If a bird attacks it, the
gecko can drop its tail off. The tail goes on twitching long
enough for the gecko to hide. While it runs away, the bird
is often kept busy by the tail.
Their eyes have no lids. In daylight the pupil is a slit (see
the photograph), but at night it grows round. The gecko in
the photograph is licking its eye with its tongue. If you look very closely you will see the openings for its ear and nostril. You 
may find geckos in the bush, on shingle beaches, on cliffs or in caves. Remember that they eat insects, and feed at night, 
and that they love warmth. These facts will help you to find them.
If you catch a gecko, treat it gently, and feed it on insects and honey. 
Make a list of all the ways in which geckos are different from skinks.
A small light inside the geckos' cage at night will attract the insects which they like to eat.
Look at the map the scientists used on the Poor Knights Islands. Find their 
camp. The places marked "Quadrat X"
are where they watched the lizards. There is a sign for a lighthouse on one 
island. Can you find it?
You can see how big the islands are by looking at the "scale" shown at the 
bottom left of the map. It shows you that 1 ¼ inches on the map stands for 50 chains on the earth's surface.
Find out how long one chain is, and measure it in the playground. Your idea of how big the islands are, will grow better as you 
learn how long one chain is.

The tuatara above is eating a gecko. Below two geckos are feeding on the nectar of a pohutukawa flower.

The Canada Goose
by Susi R. COLLINS
 photographs by P. Morris

IN 1876, THREE CANADA GEESE were brought to Wellington from North America. Today there are thousands of them in 
Otago and Canterbury. They seem to like the cold, and this may  be why they have not moved to live in the North Island.
 Grown birds can weigh up to twelve pounds and are from thirty-five to forty inches long.

ABOVE. A pair of Canada geese defend their nest.
BELOW. Goslings and eggs in the down-lined nest.
A Canada goose on its nest.

Their bodies are mostly brown, while the feet are a dark, lead colour. The Canada goose lays up to seven eggs, which are large 
and creamy-white. The goose's call is musical - a trumpet-like 
sound on water and in flight. When it is
disturbed, its call is high-pitched and creaky. It flies very fast.
The Canada goose is cunning and wise. When a flock is feeding, sentries are 
posted to watch for danger.

The goose rearranges the eggs in its nest.

They breed mostly in grassy mountain valleys or at the headwaters of the mountain rivers in North Otago and Canterbury. In 
Otago most of them live near the places where they breed. In Canterbury they fly back to harbours and lakes in May, returning to 
the high country in September to breed in October.
They nest where they can get a wide view.
They make a hollow and line it with dry grass,
rushes, and down pulled from their breasts. If
an enemy approaches the nest, the goose will lower her long neck to the ground and stay quite still. It is hard to find their nests.

A goose lowers its head to avoid being seen.

The goslings are fluffy and yellow and they are huge eaters. They feed themselves and can swim and dive the first time they 
touch water. In one week they double their weight. At about seven weeks old, young geese can run nearly as fast as a man.
Canada geese crop the grass very closely when feeding. Farmers do not like them because sheep
and cattle will not feed where geese have been
feeding.
In some parts of Canterbury, geese became
a nuisance. Fields were becoming useless to
farmers, so the Government had men kill many thousands of birds at a time when they were moulting and could not fly.

Canada geese rounded up for banding.

In the shooting season, people are allowed to shoot Canada geese, but despite the killings there are still many thousands of them 
in Canterbury and Otago.
Sometimes they are seen as far north as Marton, Levin, and Lake Rotorua.


