UNGULATA 39 



want of food." Mr W. R. BuUen of Kaikoura writes me in August, 

 1916: 



It is a well-known fact that wild pigs are very destructive among newly 

 bom lambs. I myself have watched a wild boar working a lamb like a dog 

 so as to get straight above him on a hillside, and catch the lamb with a 

 downhill rush, as the latter was too nimble for the boar to catch him other- 

 wise. I think, however, that an old sow with a litter of yoimg ones does 

 more damage, as they follow up the ewes when lambing. We always en- 

 deavour to reduce their number before lambing commences both by 

 hunting and laying poison. Phosphorus is usually employed in the latter 

 case. 



Mr Kennedy of Greentown, Kaikoura, supplements this informa- 

 tion, and informs me that when boars once begin to eat lambs, they 

 will travel long distances to get them; fortunately the habit is not 

 common. He thinks the habit is learned by their finding hoggetts 

 which have got caught and hung up in lawyers (Rubiis), and dying 

 there. Sows that have a litter of young ones also attack and destroy 

 lambs, but they do not travel any distance to do so. He adds that 

 pigs are very destructive to rabbits, eating the young ones when they 

 take refuge in shallow burrows; and states that where pigs are 

 abundant, very few rabbits are to be found. 



The following species of native plants, in addition to those named, 

 are eaten by wild pigs: Gastrodia Cunnunghamii and G. sesamoides 

 and Marattia fraxinea. 



Family Camelid^ 

 Alpaca {Lama huanacos) 



Two of these animals were imported by the Otago Society in 1878, 

 and were liberated on the property of Mr John Reid of Elderslie, 

 Oamaru. They never increased. 



Family Equid^ 



* Horse {Equus cahallus) 



It seems rather strange that in such a small country as New 

 Zealand there should be any wild horses, but there are several areas 

 very inaccessible and rarely visited, where escapes appear to have 

 congregated and bred. The natives frequently have very imperfect 

 fences, and stallions have from time to time got away and run free. 

 Mr E. Phillips Turner of the Forestry Department and in charge of 

 Scenic Reserves, informed me (January, 1916) that " vyild horses occur 

 on Mt Tarawera, round the base of Ruapehu, and in many places on 

 the volcanic plateau." Mr Yarborough of Kohu Kohu states that at 

 one time wild horses were numerous in the bush country of Hokianga 



