173 NATURAL HISTORY NOTES IN NEW ZEALAND. 
row, but bent upon a great migration and upon its own destruction. 
The movement appeared from East to West, and no impediment 
seemed to daunt them. Arms of the sea and sounds received their 
myriads, the greater number to perish in an attempt to keep the 
direct course of migration. 
After the lapse of this period of time it is difficult for me to 
describe the mountain rat, and it is scarcely to be wondered at, that 
whilst the scourge lasted I never attempted to preserve a specimen 
or to keep evenaskin. As far as I can recollect the size was about 
half that of the water vole—certainly not bigger. Thefur was some- 
thing akin to that species, yet not quite so furry; the tail somewhat 
short and thick. Since that time, 1889, I never saw another 
mountain rat, and I could not learn that anyone else had seen 
one. There had been a visitation a few years before when 
exactly the same mode of migration was noted. Whence they came 
no one knew, and whither they went no one cared, so that they 
cleared out. The same phenomenon was observed in Nelson. 
The only other mammals are the two bats to which I previously 
referred. The short-tailed bat is practically extinct, but the long-tailed 
is fairly common in the north of the South Island, where I had the 
opportunity of examining at least one specimen at close quarters. 
I should not have referred to the acclimatized furry pests of 
New Zealand had not the sequence of events so affected the destiny 
of the ground birds of the Colony. 
First of all I must mention the rabbit. Introduced by a certain 
retired naval officer for the sake of sport upon his property 
near Kaikoura, some 35 or 40 years ago, it quickly spread and 
became the greatest pest of the Sovth Island. Various means 
were tried to suppress the increase and many run holders were 
ruined. Not till the Government took the matter in hand was a 
panacea found. Sanction was given to introduce stoats and weasels, 
