26 MAMMALIA 



their specific distinctness with all that this involves in difference of 

 habits, never troubled the introducers. 



"Common Scrub or Black-tailed Wallaby (Macropus ualabatus) 

 In 1867 the Auckland Society had three wallabies in their gardens, 

 and a fourth was added in 1874; but there is no possibility of identi- 

 fying the species, and there is no record of what came of them. 



In the same year A. M. Johnson brought over some from Tasmania 

 for the Canterbury Society. A Christchurch newspaper dated April, 

 1870, says: 



The merit of the introduction into Canterbury province of the brush- 

 kangaroo of Tasmania is due to Captain Thomson, and from the thriving 

 condition of those in the Society's gardens, their adaptability to the pro- 

 vince has been proved, whilst their increase has been such as to now 

 render their liberation desirable in suitable localities. 



I cannot help thinking that this is the species which Mr Michael 

 Studholme either imported direct from Tasmania, or bought from 

 the Canterbury Society, and liberated at Waimate, South Canterbury. 

 There they have increased to an extraordinary extent. Mr E. C. 

 Studholme writing to me in February, 1916, says: 



I can just remember seeing them turned loose here, two does and one 

 buck being the number liberated. For a week or two they hung about 

 the homestead, after which they were not seen for about two years, when 

 some one sighted them on the hill near Waimate Gorge. They gradually 

 spread along the adjoining hills, and are now to be found as far north as 

 Bluecliffs. It is very hard to estimate the number there are at the present 

 time, but it is quite safe to say there are thousands of them. Parties which 

 go out shooting have killed as many as seventy in a day or two. They live 

 chiefly in the bush, scrub, and fern about the gullies and gorges, coming out 

 in the evenings to feed in the open ground. Their food chiefly consists 

 of grass, but they are very hard on certain trees, barking many of them, 

 particularly the Ohaus or five-leaf (Panax arbor ewri). There are well-defined 

 tracks through all the bushes and scrub they frequent, much on the lines 

 of pig tracks. I understand they are quite easy to snare, a good many being 

 caught in that manner. If not kept in check they would, no doubt, become 

 a great nuisance to farmers. Some years ago I sent the late F. C. Tabart 

 of Christchurch (who was a Tasmanian) one for eating, and he wrote me 

 saying it was a delicacy. Personally I have never eaten the meat, but the 

 tails make very good soup. The skins of those taken in Winter make splendid 

 rugs, being very heavy in fur, and they are much sought after. I believe 

 they are not a wallaby, but scrub-kangaroo, as they are quite large, some 

 of the old bucks weighing over 60 Ibs. 



About 1870, Sir George Grey introduced a number of species 

 of marsupials into the island of Kawau, and among these was a 

 wallaby (there is no record of where it came from) which increased 

 in an almost incredible manner. Colonel Boscawen informs me that 



