40 president's address. 



duced into Australia in the same manner as the rabbit; but, though 

 thoroughly established over the greater part of the settled districts 

 of the southern and eastern States, with a few exceptions, it has 

 done no very serious damage. Its chief depredations have been in 

 orchards, where it delights to gnaw the bark of fruit-trees, and 

 in cultivation-paddocks. It is somewhat remarkable that, when the 

 rabbits come into a district, the hares move out. 



The fox (Canis vulpes) was introduced into Australia, it is said, 

 about 1808, by some of the members of a Hunt Club, for the pur- 

 pose of indulging in the noble sport of fox-hunting. They were 

 turned out in Southern Victoria, about the district of Geelong or 

 Colac ; but as no one, now, wishes to claim the honour of the intro- 

 duction of the fox into Australia, it is very difficult to get any 

 accurate records on the subject. Like the rabbit, it was some years 

 before the fox became acclimatised, and established itself under the 

 new conditions of life; for it was nearly twenty years later, that 

 foxes were first noticed on the southern border of New South 

 Wales. At first, they made their way northward through Gipps- 

 land, keeping to the forest and scrub-lands of the eastern coast; 

 but within the last ten years, they have spread all through Riverina 

 out into the scrub-lands of the western plains, and are now gener- 

 ally distributed all over the State. It is evidently only a matter of 

 time, when the fox will be found all over Australia. Last year, the 

 Armidale Pastures Protection Board paid for the scalps of 367 adult 

 and 117 cub foxes, while the combined bonus of all the Protection 

 Boards in New South Wales amounted to £3,561 for the scalps of 

 26,278 foxes. 



A very large portion of Australia is admirably adapted for the 

 home of the fox, and it is very easy for them to make their 

 "earths," or to enlarge rabbit-burrows in the scrub and sandhills, 

 where the natural food of the fox (the rabbit) is plentiful. That 

 the fox has not become such a serious pest to the sheep-breeders 

 as was at first expected, is due to the abundance of rabbits; what 

 they will do when the rabbits are reduced down to normal, it is 

 hard to say; and though, in England, they are almost omnivorous, 

 feeding upon rats, beetles, and even snails and worms in hard 



