40 MAMMALIA 



and the west coast of the Auckland peninsula. The natives used to 

 snare them, but they were mostly so inbred as to be valueless for 

 any purpose. They are now (191 6) very scarce. 



Horses were first imported into the Chatham Islands in the 

 forties, and were commonly wild in the unsettled districts in 1868. 

 There are probably still a few of them on the table land. 



Zebra (Equus zehra) 

 Sir Geo. Grey, among his numerous other introductions, imported 

 a pair of zebras into Kawau about 1870, apparently in the hope that 

 they would breed. But one got killed, and the other had to be shot. 



Family Cervid^ 



The desire to stock the mountain country of New Zealand with 

 large game, so that the Briton's delight in going out and killing 

 something might be satisfied, has led to the introduction of no fewer 

 than ten kinds of deer, in addition to other large animals. Of these, 

 four species — red deer, fallow deer, white-tailed deer and Sambur 

 deer — have established themselves in diff^erent parts of the country 

 and are included among the animals for which licences to shoot are 

 now issued. By law they are strictly preserved, but much poaching 

 has always been and still is done. At the same time it must be 

 remembered that the poaching is chiefly done by two classes of 

 people, viz. residents in the neighbourhood of the districts where 

 the game abound, and mere pot-hunters. For the first class it may 

 be said that many farmers, who take no interest in acclimatisation 

 work or in so-called sport, and who were not consulted in any way 

 on the subject, object to the incursions of animals which ignore or 

 break down their fences, harass their stock, and eat their hay and 

 turnips. Therefore some of this destruction of imported game- takes 

 the form of reprisals for injury done to crops, fences and stock. There 

 is practically no poaching on the property of private individuals such 

 as is characterised by the name in the mother country, and con- 

 sequently destruction of game in New Zealand is not looked upon as 

 a heinous offence, as are breaches of the iniquitous game-laws of 

 Britain. The game in New Zealand are either the property of the 

 State or of the acclimatisation societies, and public opinion on the 

 subject of their destruction is lax in comparison with what it is in 

 countries where game is looked upon as something reserved for and 

 sacred to the sporting instincts of a small class. Still a very fair 

 measure of protection is ensured to the animals, and they have 

 increased in most districts where they have been liberated. It is 

 recognised, too, that a wealthy class of tourists can be induced to 



