248 Transactions. 



tion done by bush-fires is shown by the following statement 

 from a farmer at Mangahao, Pahiatua, Wellington District : 

 " When sowing grass-seed after bush-fires seven years ago I came 

 across thousands of nests with the remains of eggs and the 

 charred bones of the pheasants that had been sitting on them. 

 They were very plentiful here once, but now, when one is seen, 

 half the town and country is after it to shoot it." 



In large numbers of cases the decrease has been almost 

 simultaneous with the arrival of stoats and weasels, which 

 seem to have set about the work of extirpation without any 

 mmecessary delay. A rather striking remark is made by a 

 farmer at Ruatutiri, who says that there are only a few phea- 

 sants in his district now, and those that are there are " only 

 old cock birds." 



The reports received show that pheasants now exist in 

 numbers worth counting in only the North Island. The Poverty 

 Bay district, on the east coast of the North Island, is the only 

 district in which they are reported as " numerous," and there they 

 seem to be working towards the interior. In the few districts 

 where they are at all plentiful they are regarded by agricul- 

 turists as a thorough nuisance. A farmer at Parua Bay describes 

 them as " the greatest curse settlers have to contend against." 

 At Hokianga they are " ruination to the farmer and the gar- 

 dener." They destroy young grass, pull up maize and eat it, 

 and attack potatoes, carrots, beans, peas, barley, wheat, and 

 many kinds of fruit. A strong testimony is given against them 

 by Mr. W. E. Draper, of Waerenga, who classes them with both 

 species of introduced quail in the following condemnation : " I 

 am a large grower of fruit, such is strawberries, grapes, peaches, 

 plums, and so on. The ravages committed by the pheasants 

 and quail are a serious matter for me. I cannot offer straw- 

 berries for sale with a piece pecked out of one side, nor does it 

 suit me to find the ground between the rows sprinkled with 

 half-ripe berries bitten off. The birds perambulate a row of 

 vines and completely destroy every grape on a row 5 or 6 chains 

 long. When I sow a field of clover the soil is scratched and 

 the seed eaten. If a stop is not put to the increase of these 

 pests no man in his sober senses will embark on fruit-culture 

 in country districts infested by them. My opinion is that it 

 is little better than criminal folly to keep a close season for 

 these birds. I have counted twenty-five pheasants on about 

 an acre of potatoes on the lake-side, and I have put up nineteen 

 on my own place when traversing a distance of 30 chains. Up 

 to about nine years ago I supplied strawberries up to the middle 

 of June. The berries come now as before, but they are all 

 destroyed by the pheasants and the quail, especially the latter. 



