230 Transactions. 



It was clear to the settlers that if this disastrous condition 

 of affairs continued it would be useless to attempt to carry on 

 agriculture and horticulture, as operations in that direction 

 would mean that insects, not men and women, would be fed. 

 The armies of the insects had to be fought back. In places 

 large ditches were dug to stop the creatures' progress. 



Some of the native birds performed good service by eating 

 the insects. Prominent among these birds were gulls, terns, 

 kingfishers, oyster-catchers, native larks, white-eyes, fantails, 

 bell-birds, and grey warblers. At first the kingfishers seemed 

 to increase rapidly with agriculture, and were regarded for a 

 time as the agriculturist's best friends. The native birds, 

 however, will not dwell with men, and when the native bush 

 was felled in the vicinity of settlement they retreated further 

 back, and only visited the insect-laden fields occasionally. As 

 a means of adequately dealing with the insect pests they are 

 not worth considering. 



The settlers then turned their attention to the insect-eating 

 birds they had known in the Old Country. Acclimatisation 

 societies were formed, and steps were taken to introduce English 

 birds. In Europe the insect-eaters have their retreats in the 

 winter, when insects are absent; in New Zealand there are 

 no winter retreats. It was therefore concluded that the intro- 

 duced birds would have to possess three qualifications : they 

 would have to be able to eat both insects and seeds, otherwise 

 they would not be able to live in the winter, when the " children 

 of the summer " were absent ; they would have to be non- 

 migratory, otherwise the time and money spent on their acclima- 

 tisation would be wasted ; and they would have to be prohfic 

 breeders, so that they should multiply rapidly and soon overcome 

 the insect pests. 



In weighing the evidence against the small birds it must 

 never be forgotten that that rapid increase was one of the prin- 

 cipal qualifications set down by the early colonists as necessary 

 for success. The sparrow fills all these requirements, and it is 

 not surprising to learn that this little bird, which is now heartily 

 cursed in many countries, and outlawed in several, with a price 

 upon its head, should be among the first to be introduced to the 

 new land of insects and trouble. 



As far as I have been able to learn, it Avas to Canterbury 

 that the first sparrows came, but their advent, it is stated, was 

 purely accidental, and their introduction was not contemplated 

 on that occasion. The story is that the acclimatisation society 

 ordered twelve dozen hedge-sparrows from England. The order 

 was placed with Captain Stevens, of the " Matoaka," who sub- 

 mitted it to a bird-fancier at Knightsbridge. Either the fancier 



