IN CAMP IN NEW ZEALAND 281 



the " fantail," a small creature like a tomtit, who was not in the 

 least shy and always glad to see one. He hopped round as near 

 as he dared, opening out to the full his dark brown and white 

 fantail and wings, and going through all kinds of antics, gave 

 the stranger a most pretty welcome to his bushy home. 



My hunter, they told me afterwards, was some time ago 

 engaged by a large sheep station in the South Island to kill the 

 wild dogs which had lately greatly increased in number and were 

 doing considerable damage to the stock, the man to be paid a 

 fixed sum for every tail sent in. The number of tails produced 

 and paid for was so great that my "friend" was congratulated 

 on his skill in so quickly destroying the pests, when, unfortu- 

 nately, reports got about that a curious disease had broken out 

 among the dogs of a neighbouring station, a disease of which 

 loss of tail was the chief symptom ; and, further, that from an 

 adjoining town several dogs had disappeared altogether, some of 

 which, however, had been afterwards found, evidently dead of 

 the same mysterious ailment, for they also had parted with their 

 caudal appendages. 



The pathology of this interesting canine affliction was 

 probably best understood by my hunter, who, doubtless afraid 

 of catching the same disease, suddenly left for other parts. 



