90 



\\l\At IJFK IX NEW /KAl.AMi. 



in tin's north 1-inl of tiir Island tin- .\ew Zealand species." DielTen- 

 bach. writing some time later, said In- never could obtain a native 

 rat, "owing to tin- extermination carried mi against it 1>\ tin- 

 European rat." There is no doubt that this species has had a con- 

 siderable share in the destruction of the native avifauna, and it 

 is also responsible for much of the difficulty experienced by accli- 

 matization societies and private individuals in their attempts to 

 establish introduced game-birds, but I do not think it is responsible 

 for the disappearance of the Maori rat. 



During visits to Stewart Island and the West Coast Sounds 

 between 1874 and 1880 I was struck bv tin- abundance of these 



FIG. 13. THK BROWN OR NORWAY RAT. 



animals in regions uninhabited and almost unvisited by man. One 

 day I remember that the late Mr. Ifobert Paulin and I emerged 

 from the bush on the south side of Thule. in I'atersoii Inlet, when 

 the tide was low. exposing a wide stretch of beach nearly a mile 

 loiiir. \\'e were much impressed by noticim: that the whole beaeh 

 \\as alive with large rats, which were feeding on the shell-fish and 

 stranded animals which ihe tide had left exposed, As soon 

 they saw us they ran for the -dielter of the bush; they were literallv 

 i:i hundreds. I am inclined to think that ihe rat which frequents 

 all sheltered beaches on the Doasl is this common brown rat. and 

 that it depend* on the animal life of the ,*ea coast for its Livelihood 



