Under The Microscope

KIWI: A SECRET LIFE, by Jim Jolly; NZ Natural Heritage Foundation, 1991; 64 pages; $19.95

This is the first book in a proposed nature series being published by the New Zealand Natural Heritage Foundation, in association with Shearwater Books. If it's anything to go by, the series should be an excellent one.

The book is well written by one of New Zealand's leading kiwi researchers, Jim Jolly. By addressing his readers personally Jolly gives a sense of immediacy to his work, an understanding of the scientist as well as the science he is studying. It's a good approach in what is suggested as a classroom book, and works equally well for the adult reader.

There's something of a Greek tragedy in the account of a weka feeding on a kiwi egg, stealing the contents from beneath the trembling bird. Or in the 14 years of Richard Henry's heart-breaking -- and ultimately doomed -- attempts at saving kiwi and kakapo from the rats and stoats that threatened them.

There's also hope for the future in the various breeding programmes Jolly describes.

The diagrams and photographs are clear and informative, and Elspeth Williamson's paintings are a delightful complement to them. The Foundation plans on producing a teacher's resource kit to go with this book, providing information and activities for budding conservation biologists.

It is to be hoped that, given the stress our national emblem is under, they continue to exist as more than just images in a nicely produced book. One way of helping to ensure that is to make more people aware of the intriguing life and possible dearth of the kiwi. This book will do that.

Vicki Hyde, NZSM