UNGULATA 57 



* Goat (Capra eegagrm) 



The introduction of goats dates from Captain Cook's second 

 voyage. He says in his Journal: 



On 2nd June, 1773, I sent on shore, on the East side of the Sound, 

 (Queen Charlotte), two goats male and female. The former was something 

 more than a year old, but the latter was much older. She had two fine 

 kids some time before we arrived in Dusky Bay, which were killed by 

 cold. 



Forster in his Journal says they were left by Captain Furneaux in 

 an unfrequented part of East Bay, " this place being fixed on in hopes 

 that they would there remain unmolested by the natives, who indeed 

 were the only enemies they had to fear." 



On the third voyage, the 'Resolution' was in Queen Charlotte 

 Sound from the 12th to 25th February, 1777, and Captain Cook says : 



I gave Matahouah two goats, a male and a female with kid, (and to 

 Tomatongeauooranuc two pigs, a boar and a sow). They made me a 

 promise not to kill them; though I must own I put no great faith in this. 

 The animals which Captain Furneaux sent on shore here, and which soon 

 after fell into the hands of the natives, I was now told were all dead. 



It is popularly believed that all the wild goats of New Zealand 

 are descended from those introduced by Captain Cook, but while 

 this may be partly true of those in the South Island, especially at 

 its northern end, it can hardly explain those found in the North 

 Island. It is more likely that they are descended from escaped 

 animals; they are now abundant in many parts of New Zealand. 

 Mr F. G. Gibbs tells me that goats were imported into Nelson some 

 time in the forties. "In the fifties a large number were kept 

 tethered on some hills in the Maitai Valley, still called the Goat 

 Hills. Some of these goats escaped into the back country, and were 

 the progenitors of the wild goats." 



In the high country of Marlborough they are mainly of three 

 colours, black — which is perhaps the commonest — khaki and white. 

 In a trip through the caiion of the Ure River, Mr B. C. Aston says: 

 "the fusillades of stones showered down on us by the goats which 

 we had disturbed were a source of ever present danger." 



Great numbers of them are to be met with in the rocky and 

 precipitous country at PalHser Bay, near Wellington. Except when 

 they move they are difficult to see, as their colours blend almost 

 undistinguishably with that of their natural surroundings. They are 

 abundant on Kapiti Island and unfortunately are also common in 

 the Mt Egmont reserve, where they are doing much damage. 



They also occur, though not commonly, on the sparsely scrub- 



