THE 



Enimals of Kew Zealand. 



INTRODUCTION. 



New Zealand contains a remnant of the population of a 

 continent that existed long- before mammals overspread the 

 earth. That population was added to as the ages passed, fresh 

 colonists dropping in from time to time, mostly from Australia. 



At last, not many hundreds of years ago, there came Man. 

 The coming of the Maori was as the shadow of death to a large 

 section of the original inhabitants ; but it was only a prelude 

 to the great transformation wrought, as the Europeans, who 

 followed, swept the land with the besom of destruction. The 

 dramatic events of that time are dealt with a few pages further 

 on; we wish to point out here some of the effects of the 

 dominion's long isolation, and to deal with a few of the 

 peculiarities that have made New Zealand famous. 



Our animal life is full of contrasts and surprises. The 

 manifold eccentricities of our fauna are so striking that some 

 naturalists would like to see New Zealand constituted one of 

 the great Zoological Regions of the globe. Although Dr. A. R. 

 Wallace has refused to grant it this honour in his Geographical 

 Distribution of Animals, and has made it a sub-region of 

 Australia, everybody admits that it has many claims to 

 distinction, on account of those things it lacks, as much as on 

 account of those it possesses. 



Our birds are noted for flightlessness and songlessness and 

 dullness of plumage. Yet some of them remain on the wing 

 during extraordinary flights over vast stretches of water, and 



