428 



SCIEJ^CE. 



LVoL. VIII, No. 197 



breaking up their feeding-ground in many parts, 

 but it was not an uncommon occurrence, twenty 

 or thirty years ago, for the traveller to come upon 

 a huge army of rats on the march for new fields. 



The most important mammalian introduction 

 into these islands has certainly been that of the 

 rabbit. In the southern portion of the South 

 Island the responsibility of introducing these 

 animals certainly rests with the Otago acclimatiza- 

 tion society, which imported them from Tasmania 

 in 1867. It must be said for the members of the 

 society, that they acted in good faith, under the 

 impression that they were doing a useful work, 

 and little realizing what a curse their proteges 

 were to become. Their action furnishes an illus- 

 tration of the difficulty of foreseeing what effect 

 changed conditions may produce upon any organ- 

 ism. Brought into a country where only a few 

 sluggish hawks existed as natural enemies, the 

 rabbits have increased almost without let or 

 hinderance, and now occur in millions. Ten years 

 ago they were almost rare : now many districts 

 of the South Island are quite alive with them. It 

 is impossible to realize their abundance in parts 

 such as the Clutha valley without seeing them. 

 The surface of the ground is honeycombed, the 

 vegetation in places eaten nearly as bare as a 

 macadamized road, whUe the animals towards 

 evening are met with by thousands. Their effect 

 on tlie stock-carrying capacity of the country has 

 been ruinous, and their abundance has seriously 

 retarded settlement. All sorts of devices have 

 been tried in order to keep them down ; the larger 

 holders chiefly employing traps and dogs, and 

 others resorting to grain poisoned by phosphorus. 

 At considerable expense the pest is being kept in 

 check in the populated districts ; but in wild, un- 

 broken country they multiply unchecked. The 

 government is now trying what is generally con- 

 sidered to be a very dangerous experiment, viz., 

 the liberation of weasels and stoats. If these 

 creatures increase at all freely they will prove 

 even a worse pest than the rabbits. 



Hares, red-deer, axis-deer, and fallow-deer have 

 been introduced by various acclimatization socie- 

 ties. The former are common, and are coursed regu- 

 larly, but the phosphorus has nearly exterminated 

 them in many parts. The deer are still only kept 

 in preserves, being strictly looked after ; but they 

 are increasing steadily, and will probably furnish 

 good sport, ere many years are past, to those who 

 can afford the luxury of shooting them. The 

 latest move in this direction is the proposed in- 

 troduction cf the chamois, as it is thought the 

 southern Alps will be most suitable for these ani- 

 mals. The government has commissioned Sir 

 Julius von Haast, who is at present in Europe, to 



make inquiry for these animals at the royal pre- 

 serves in Bavaria and the Austrian Tyrol. 



Native birds show a tendency to disappear 

 rapidly before the European settler. The quail, 

 formerly so abundant as to be shot by scores, are 

 now quite extinct, this being partly due to the 

 introduction of rats, cats, and dogs, but chiefly to 

 the tremendous grass fires which have swept the 

 country from side to side, and before which all 

 ground animals disappear like smoke. Hence the 

 necessity was early felt by the settlers, of intro- 

 ducing not only game-birds, but suitable insec- 

 tivorous birds. Of the former, pheasant, partridge, 

 and California quail have become well established 

 in many parts. In Auckland particularly, pheas- 

 ants became extremely common. But in other 

 parts the peculiar results of the rabbit question 

 have again manifested themselves ; for, in adopt- 

 ing the phosphorized grain-cure for rabbits, these 

 introduced game-birds have been exterminated in 

 whole districts. This is the case, for instance, in 

 southern and central Otago, where ten years ago 

 pheasants were to be seen on every hillside, and 

 now it is rare to come across one. It is probable 

 also, that, if weasels increase, it will be almost 

 futile to attempt the further introduction of game- 

 birds. 



A visitor to Dunedin at the present time, 

 strolling into the forest-clad town-belt, might see 

 or hear a few tuis (parson-birds) or korimakos 

 (bell-birds), but these would probably be the only 

 native birds to be met with. But on every side 

 he would hear the pipe of the blackbird and 

 thrush, and see abundance of house and hedge 

 sparrows, chaffinches, linnets, and goldfinches. 

 In the more open ground, sky-larks would be met 

 with in abundance, while numerous flocks of 

 starlings would be seen busily at work in the fields. 

 Besides these, yellow-hammers and greenfinches 

 are common, while very recently robin-redbreasts 

 have been liberated. In most cases the introduced 

 birds have developed no new habits here, remain- 

 ing true to their traditional instincts of robbing 

 gardens when there was any thing worth robbing 

 in them, but for the greater part of the year de- 

 pending upon outside supplies, which are suf- 

 ficiently abundant in this land of plenty. But it 

 is difficult in many districts to get a crop of cher- 

 ries or strawberries, while the farmers are annual- 

 ly engaged in a crusade on the small birds. The 

 linnets, yellow-hammers, and greenfinches in par- 

 ticular, attack the grain-crops as soon as the young 

 grain is well formed ; and long before it is ripe, 

 wide stretches of the fields, especially near hedge- 

 rows, are thrashed clean. This has already led to 

 war, the farmers offering rewards for dead birds 

 and for eggs. Whether the good these birds do 



