58 MAMMALIA 



clad faces of the west coast, north and south of Hokianga, as well as 

 on the outskirts of bush land. They are not therefore considered to 

 be of any commercial value. 



Writing of those in the Lake Wakatipu district, Mr L. Hotop of 

 Queenstown says (April, 1916): 



There is an immense number spread all over the Lakes district, — a 

 moderate estimate gives them as many as 30,000 .... They are principally 

 at Moonlight, Skippers, Sandhills, and at the lower end of the Lake, 

 seriously interfering with the pasturage in these localities; one runholder 

 has paid year after year for as many as a thousand during the season. 

 At Moonlight, a digger, during the past nine months, has shot 550. My 

 informant tells me he was offered zs. ^d. a skin for as many as he could send. 



Mr W. H. Gates of Skippers writes (April, 1916): 



there are a lot of wild goats here, almost within rifle-range of my cabin 



One sheep-farmer gave a shilling per pair of ears, and a shilling for each 

 pelt. The male is a rough-looking customer; some have horns 15 inches 

 in length, and 2 J inches by 1 1 inches at the root ; and they grow in a slightly 



spiral form I think there is a strain of many breeds running through 



them all. Some have long hair, but are not the Angora breed. Some are 

 almost white, but the chief colours are black and white, or black and tan. 

 I have noticed here (and also on the West Coast) that the female has her 

 young in winter, when food is not plentiful. Why this is I never could 

 understand. 



Goats are still found wild on the Galloway Station, Central Otago, 

 though not so abundant as in former years. They live in the high 

 country, and do not come down to the settlements. Mr A. Gunn, 

 who managed this large run for many years, tells me: 



they are of great use to sheep farmers, as they keep down the "lawyers" 

 {Rubus australis), and thus save the sheep from being entangled. In shooting 

 them, if the wind is coming from them, you can smell them before you 

 see them; and while they are feeding a billy-goat is always standing on 

 guard. While they are of all colours, black and white is the commonest, 

 though brownish-red, grey and even occasionally a white one are found. 

 They live in the roughest places they can find. 



They are also found in considerable numbers round the south- 

 west corner of the South Island, but whether they have escaped from 

 the settlements about Preservation Inlet, or have worked overland 

 from Southland it is not possible to say with certainty. Probably the 

 former is the explanation of their occurrence from Puysegur Point 

 inland. 



Mr W. R. Bullen of Kaikoura informs me (August, 1916) that they 

 are numerous on his run, but while they eat very much the same food 

 as the sheep do, they keep the scrub and bush open, so that the sheep 

 can move through it. 



