32 WILD LIFE IN NEW ZEALAND. 



Scottisli form. Tin- antlers do not grow to great length, but some 

 are very wide in spread, and there is a great proportion of 

 ' Imperials.' the most number of points recorded being twenty- 

 two. The stairs mature their antlers early. A number of heads 

 have been shot on Te Awaite Station showing the abnormal develop- 

 ment of the back tines, such as is seen to be the case in the great 

 Warnham Park stags in England, and which is probably due to the 

 highly favourable conditions of climate, food, and shelter." 



In 1871 the Otago Acclimatization Society imported fifteen red 

 deer, some of which were sent to the care of Mr. Rich, of Bushy 

 Park, Palmerston; while seven were liberated on the Morven Hills 

 Run, east of Lake Hawea. Those at Bushy Park spread over into 

 the Horse Mange: but they did not succeed, and no definite ex- 

 planation of the failure has been given. Probably the country was 

 not high and wild enough : on one side they were encroaching 

 all the time on well-stocked sheep-country, and on the other on 

 old-settled farm land; besides which there were many old diggers 

 still about the neighbourhood. From one cause or another they 

 did not succeed. The Otago Acclimatization Society reported them 

 as quite extinct in ISO'J. but Mr. Hardcastle. writing in 1018. 

 they are still to be found on the Horse Range. 



The deer liberated at Morven Hills were from the estates of 

 the Earl of Dalhousie. in Forfarshire, Scotland. They are the 

 only lor of pure Scottisli bred deer in this country. In their new 

 home in tin- New Zealand mountains they multiplied at a L r n-;it 

 rate, and have in thes forty-odd years spread over tin- country 

 between Lakes Wanaka. Hawen. and Ohau. They have worked 

 their way tip the Hunter and Makarora Rivers, across the Haast 

 Pass into south Westlnnd. and riirht up to the neighbourhood of 

 Mount Cook Tlir most of this eoiintrv runs from 3.00()ft. to 

 7. <><><> ft. in lieijrht. and much of it is very steep, rugged, and 

 inaccessible. lint it contains much bush in the valleys and Bullies, 

 and the open country is well Crossed in summer. Hardcastle 

 " The North :'_ r s maintain the true Squish type of antler, 



but the\ _rro\v r ,, niurl, jTe.-iter length than tin- antlers of any 

 that lui\ -hot in the British Isles. The antlers are also 



remarkable for their symmetry ami perfection in the development 

 of the tines, juid particularly the lower tines. Some magnificent 

 is have been i_ r ot. including a seventeen- and an eighteen -pointer. 



