Acclimatisation in New South Wales.



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ACCLIMATISATION IN NEW SOUTH

WALES.*


By THE LATE A. J. NORTH, C.M.Z.S.


When the British visitor arrives at Circular Quay, Sydney,

provided he has not landed at any other Australian port, the question

he will probably be asking himself, if he is an ornithologist or bird-

lover, is : “ Am I really twelve thousand miles away from home ? ”

One of the first, if not the first bird to arrest his attention will be

the House Sparrow (Passer clomesticus ), for it may be seen and heard

in numbers about the goods sheds on the Quay before he leaves

the steamer’s side, although it is less common in the breeding season,

which usually commences in August. In the city, however, and the

public parks and gardens it is ubiquitous.


Another common acclimatised species is the Starling (Sturnus

vulgaris), which may be seen about the larger public buildings of the

city and the grass lawns of Hyde Park and the Botanic Gardens ;

farther afield in the outlying suburbs it occurs in autumn and winter

in immense flocks.


Yet another introduced species may be seen in the parks and

gardens of the metropolis, and occasionally resorting to the larger

buildings in the city — the Spotted-naped Dove ( Turtur suratensis ),

of South-Eastern Asia; it is common in the suburbs. About the

mansions of Double Bay, Bose Bay, and Yaucluse, may be seen

another acclimatised species from the latter Continent, the Indian

Myna ( Acridotheres tristis ). It is remarkable that this species,

although it has frequented the localities named for many years past,

has kept in the comparatively near neighbourhood and not spread

over the surrounding country as it has in Victoria. The same, too,

may be said of the introduced Skylark ( Alauda arvensis ), which is

chiefly confined to the vicinity of Centennial Park, Bandwick, Botany,

and the lowlands about the mouths of Cook and George Bivers.

Frequenting mostly the introduced pine (Pinus insignis ) about

Bandwick, Botany, and the western and northern suburbs, may be

more often heard than seen, the by no means common acclimatised

Greenfinch (Fringilla chloris). Far more numerous, in many of the


* Reprinted from the 4 New South Wales Handbook,’ British Association Visit.


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