WILD DOGS. 63 



of sagacity over our sheep. In the former country they are fed 

 upon fish; in the latter, on vegetables." 



Bellingshausen, who visited New Zealand in 1820, says, " We 

 saw no quadrupeds except dogs of a small species. Captain Lazarew 

 bought a couple. They are rather small, have a woolly tail, erect 

 ears, a large mouth, and short legs." 



Diefferibach, writing nearly seventy years after Cook's visit, 

 remarks that " the native dog was formerly considered a dainty, 

 and great numbers of them were eaten ; but the breed having 

 undergone an almost complete mixture with the European, their 

 use as an article of food has been discontinued, as the European 

 dogs are said by the Natives to be perfectly unpalatable. The New 

 Zealand dog is different from the Australian dingo; the latter 

 resembles in size and shape the wolf, while the former rather 

 resembles the jackal." 



The Rev. Richard Taylor, author of " Te Ika a Maui," who is 

 not always a reliable authority where natural history is concerned, 

 says, " The New Zealand dog was small and long-haired, of a dirty 

 white or yellow colour, with a bushy tail. This the Natives say 

 they brought with them when they first came to these Islands." 

 Then he adds, "It is not improbable, however, that they found 

 another kind already in the country, brought by the older Mela- 

 nesian race, with long white hair and black tail : it is said to have 

 been very quiet and docile." 



The Maori dog has totally disappeared. Mr. S. Percy Smith, 

 of New Plymouth, tells me that the last one he heard of was about 

 1896. But I have mentioned it here because it was in part the 

 progenitor of the wild dogs which afterwards became such a 

 dangerous nuisance to sheep-breeders. 



When settlement began European dogs must have crossed freely 

 with the native animal, and many, both of the introduced and 

 crossed dogs, became truly wild, especially as there were sheep and 

 goats to worry, and pigs to chase and kill. 



Dr. Lyall, who was surgeon on H.M.S. "Acheron " during the 

 survey of the coast of New Zealand in 1844, says of the kakapo, 

 or owl-parrot, that " at a very recent period it was common all 

 over the west coast of the Middle Island ; but there is now a race 

 of wild dogs said to have overrun all the northern part of this 

 shore, and to have almost exterminated the kakapo wherever they 



