72 WILD LIFE IN NEW ZEALAND. 



Every one who has had any experience of these vermin lias hia 

 own view as to their usefulness or otherwise, but it is seldom that 

 careful observers put their experiences down on paper. I have 

 collected some evidence on this subject, and give here a few of the 

 observations which have been recorded. 



Mr. George Mueller, Chief Surveyor of Westlaud, in his report 

 'n the " Reconnaissance Survey of the Headwaters of the Okuru, 

 Actor, and Burke Rivers " (Reports N.Z. Survey Department for 

 1889-90, p. 50), says, " Several weasels and ferrets were caught 

 and killed at the Okuru and Waiatoto Settlements, within about a 

 mile from the sea-coast. . . . No rabbits were met with until 

 near the Actor, nineteen miles from the coast, and they were only 

 seen in numbers at the very headwaters of the Okuru. 

 Meanwhile the kakapos, kiwis, and blue ducks have nearly dis- 

 appeared from the district." 



Mr. Richard Henry, writing from Lake Te Anau in September, 

 1890, says, " I have known the ferrets to take young paradise 

 ducks out of a clutch often in 1888, and last year the same pair 

 of ducks reared only two young ones; but away from the lake I 

 have seen larger families. I found two black teal ducks killed by 

 a ferret, though it is seldom any of their work is seen, for they 

 always drag their prey under cover. The black teal are getting 

 scarce." Mr. Henry adds, " I think very few ferrets at liberty 

 survive the winter for want of food." My own opinion is that they 

 cannot endure the cold. 



Mr. Richard Norman, Albert Town, writing in the Otnyo Witness 

 of the 2nd October, 1890, says, " I think that Mr. E. H. Wilmot's 

 experience in the Holly ford Valley, as recorded in the Witness a 

 year or two ago, conclusively proves that the imported vermin kill 

 the native wingless birds. He encountered there a ferret-warren, 

 and the weka, kiwi, and kakapo were almost exterminated. In 

 the Makarora Valley these used to be plentiful, but since the advent 

 of the stoats and weasels they are very rare, and rabbiting tallies 

 have not depreciated." 



Mr. riiarlos J. Peters, of Mount SOTIXTS. writes almut these 

 animals (1916): "Since the stoats and weasels became fairly 

 numerous the rabbits have increased 100 per cont. and m<>re. 

 I have found woa sols' nests both in heaps of fencing-material and 

 also in rabbit-burrows. These nests have always been made of 



