232 Transactions. 



The. blackbird, the skylark, and the song-thrush were intro- 

 duced for sentimental reasons. The song of the skylark was 

 listened to with a delight that can hardly be expressed xn words. 

 It sent a thrill of pleasure through the whole settlement. The 

 bird was a " blithe spirit," which poured out the fullness of its 

 joy "in profuse strains of unpremeditated art." It showered a 

 " rain of melody " on the toiling colonists, and awakened the 

 sweetest thoughts of home and of childhood's happy hours. The 

 colonists had absolutely no suspicion that their charming little 

 feathered friend, the gay and debonnair " embodiment of joy," 

 the gentle singer of the field, who had come to sing to them the 

 old songs of Merry England, would soon be ranked as a feathered 

 pest, second to none but the sparrow. 



The blackbird was another treasured reminder of the Old 

 Country ; and it is now another " feathered friend " that is 

 heartily cursed up hill and down dale. There is some doubt 

 as to when it was first introduced into New Zealand. Old settlers 

 in Otago have an impression that it is indigenous, and was in 

 the colony before civilisation came. It is probable, however, 

 that early settlers in Otago mistook some of our own dark- 

 plumaged birds for the English blackbird, and were led into a 

 misapprehension. A statement has been made that the black- 

 bird came up into Canterbury from Otago, making its first ap- 

 pearance in the former province in 1856. No Canterbury 

 settler with whom I have spoken on the subject has been 

 able to confirm that statement. The first record in regard 

 to Canterbury is in 1865, when Captain Rose brought a pair 

 to Lyttelton in the " Mermaid." In the same year the Otago 

 Acclimatisation Society liberated a pair in Dunedin. In 1867 

 Captain Stevens brought forty-six to Lyttelton in the " Ma- 

 toaka," and six more were liberated in Dunedin. Others fol- 

 lowed, a few being acclimatised every year for a considerable 

 time, Messrs. R. and C. Bills bringing out quite a large number. 

 There was a great rage for blackbirds in Christchurch at one 

 time. A single bird kept in a cage by Mr. T. H. Potts, at 

 Governor's Bay, in Lyttelton Harbour, was the subject of much 

 attention, and extortionate prices were paid for a mate for an 

 odd bird. 



The blackbird soon became naturalised. Colonists only 

 smiled when it took a little fruit. There was plenty of fruit, 

 they said, but there were only a few blackbirds ; and they 

 looked upon the bird's depredations as they would look upon 

 the little failings of a favourite child. As the years went by, 

 and the blackbird increased in numbers, it began to take the 

 lion's share of cherries, strawberries, pears, apples, and other 

 fruit. Gardeners then began to look upon it as an ugly, sooty 



