HARDY ON PROVINCIAL ACCLIMATIZATION. 19 



to New Zealand. The last Report of this Society is so interesting, 

 that it is scarcely possible, in noticing the achievements therein 

 recorded, to refrain from giving the whole in extenso. Certainly, in 

 no country on the face of the globe could acclimatization be more 

 applicable, and hence the earnestness of its colonists in this matter. 

 Australia possesses no indigenous ruminant, and scarcely a game 

 bird beyond a variety of aquatic fowl ; and the immense success of 

 the introduction of sheep on its vast pasture lands, where no animal 

 had browsed before from the creation, thereby giving the colony its 

 staple product, wool, is in itself an earnest of the great advantages 

 of acclimatization. After noticing the introduction and successful 

 reproduction of the camel, a herd of which were brought from India 

 at the expense of £120 per head, the llamas and alpacas from South 

 America, Cashmere goats presented by the Paris Society, and various 

 breeds of sheep, the Report goes on to say : — 



" While devoting this amount of attention to such animals as the camel, 

 the alpaca, the angora goat, and the sheep, which may be considered as 

 more immediately interesting to the mercantile and pastoral classes, the 

 sportsman has not been forgotten. The fallow deer, the Indian elk, the 

 beautiful spotted axis deer, have been successfidly imported, bred from, 

 and turned loose at "Wilson's Promontory, the Wummera, the Sugarloaf, 

 and the Bunjip. Numerous specimens of the hog-deer of India, a beau- 

 tiful deer from Manilla, and another from Formosa, are still in the pos- 

 session of the Society, with a view to their multiplication and ultimate 

 release ; and fresh importations of the deer tribe are almost of weekly 

 occurrence. 



"The hare has been sent to the Society by the Zoological Society of 

 London, and has been turned out, and is now breeding freely on Philip 

 Island. Various breeds of pheasants, partridges, grouse, and quail, have 

 been introduced, and some have been liberated. Amongst those may be 

 mentioned the Californian quail, which has bred after being liberated in 

 the Botanical G-ardens and Philip Island, and the Algerine sand-grouse, 

 of which a considerable number have been imported, and which, from 

 their hardy nature and the similarity of their original climate, may be 

 considered highly adapted to this country. The English wild duck has 

 been imported, has multiplied very freely, and now visits the lagoon at 

 the botanical gardens in nearly equal numbers to the indigenous water 

 fowl. The Egyptian goose has bred at the Royal Park, aud promises to 

 be thoroughly acclimatized. The wild pea fowl of Ceylon has thriven 

 and bred in the charge of the Society, and can soon be set at liberty. — 

 The white swan has been introduced in considerable numbers, has bred 

 in the gardens of the Society, and is now distributed in various localities. 

 Various kinds of foreign doves and pigeons have been introduced and 

 liberated. The curassow has been obtained, and has bred in the aviaries 

 of the botanical gardens." 



Then comes an enumeration of the various European pond and 



