4136 The Zoologist — September, 1874. 



comers. Starlings, sparrows and finches have in many parts esta- 

 blished themselves about the cultivated districts and homesteads ; 

 while in the province of Nelson, especially, acclimatisation has been 

 in many cases most successful. There the sky lark, which in point 

 of song generally ranks next to the nightingale, is becoming quite 

 common ; for miles along the road from Nelson to Christchurch it 

 soars and sings as in England. Upon the well-known sheep-walks 

 of the Cheviot Hills many imported birds may be noticed, — amongst 

 others the partridge, blackbird and thrush. Although in most other 

 districts nothing of a satisfactory nature can be reported of the 

 reproduction of the blackbird and thrush, notwithstanding the large 

 number turned out, an instance may be cited to show how well other 

 imported species have thriven and increased. In October, 186.3, a 

 pair of greenfinches were liberated, which had been purchased by 

 auction for five guineas. The sole occupant of their first nest was 

 one callow nestling ; but before the warm days of summer had quite 

 passed away a second family of five was reared, and in the suc- 

 ceeding winter a flock of eight was seen daily. In the following 

 year, late in autumn, more than twenty were flushed from a little 

 patch of chickweed, and since then they have spread so far and 

 wide that the greenfinch's note is now a well-known sound. The 

 musical whoop of the black swan is sometimes heard as the wedge- 

 shaped flock passes over. This grand addition to our list of birds 

 was introduced to clear the Avon from the pest of water-cress, 

 which in a few years had grown into such thick masses as to impede 

 tlie stream. No doubt they cleared a wider pathway for the current, 

 and for a while seemed happy and contented ; but gradually they 

 stole away to find more secluded quarters, and were only heard of 

 now and then as appearing on distant lakes and tarns. Less than 

 twenty pairs were liberated by the Christchurch municipality, and 

 yet they are now represented by many hundreds, as many as five 

 hundred having been counted within a very small area on the 

 Halswell. In Otago, Marlborough and Nelson they arc to be met 

 with in many localities in goodly numbers, for they occupy lakes, 

 rivers and standing pools quite regardless of provincial boundaries. 

 In the towns of Kaiapoi and Christchurch flocks of pert sparrows 

 are as busy on the roads as in any English village ; the change of 

 climate has not abashed the in)pudent cock sparrow, nor weakened 

 the hereditary attachment of the species for man's society. Pledges 

 of this friendship are sometimes discovered in wet weather by 



