UNGULATA 41 



visit the country, if, in addition to scenic attractions, there can be 

 added those things which appeal to the sporting instincts of humanity. 

 This has led the Government of the Dominion in recent years to 

 devote some attention to the subject of introducing various additional 

 kinds of big game to those already brought in by the acclimatisation 

 societies. Several experiments have been made in this direction, and 

 most of them seem likely to be successful. 



* Red Deer (Cervus elaphus) 



(a) According to Mr Huddleston, whose father was curator of 

 the Nelson Acclimatisation Society, a red deer stag and doe were 

 landed in that district in the fifties. The doe was killed, but the 

 stag remained near Motueka, and ultimately joined those which were 

 introduced in 1861. In Judge Broad's account of Nelson, he states 

 that Felix Wakefield landed one stag in 185 1. He further states that 

 in September, 1854, ^^^ ^''^t stag was turned out on the hills near 

 the mouth of the Waimea, brought in the ship ' Eagle.' Two hinds 

 were sent for to England. 



(b) The next importation of red deer into New Zealand was in 

 February, 1861, when a stag and two hinds, presented by Lord 

 Petre from his park in Essex, England, were landed in Nelson. The 

 progeny of these animals increased and rapidly spread themselves 

 over a great part of the high country in the provincial districts of 

 Nelson and Marlborough — of late years they have further spread 

 into North Canterbury, and over towards the west coast. Mr Hard- 

 castle, who in 1906 wrote a report on the red deer herds in the 

 country, says: 



The heads obtained in Nelson are of a good dark colour and fairly 

 massive, but compared with those of Wairarapa and Hawea, they have 

 not the same average of span or spread .... Lord Petre 's herd had had no 

 new blood introduced into it for many years, so that a particular t5rpe of 

 antler had been fixed from which there is no throwing back. 



According to Mr Hardcastle the type of head of the first imported 

 stag continues to persist, and dominates all the deer of the Nelson 

 herd. In 1900 a herd, descended from Nelson deer, was started in 

 the Lillburn Valley, west of the Waiau River, in Southland. 



(c) In 1862 a stag and two hinds presented by the Prince Consort 

 to Governor Weld were handed over by him to Dr Featherstone, 

 then Superintendent of Wellington Province. The deer (six in number) 

 were captured in Windsor Park, and housed there for some time as 

 preparation for their long sea voyage. One stag and two hinds were 

 shipped by the ' Triton,' for Wellington, and after a passage of 127 

 days, during which one hind succumbed, arrived on 6th June, 1862. 



