UNGULATA 61 



animals no bigger than a mustard seed? " The House, however, was quite 

 resolved, and deliberately passed the vote, in spite of the earnest protests 

 of the member for Motueka^. 



I cannot recall now, nor find any record, as to why the introduc- 

 tion of chamois was not carried out in 1889, but I think the cause 

 was that the animals could not be procured. No further attempt was 

 made till recently. In 1907, the Government received eight chamois, 

 a present from the Emperor of Austria, and these were liberated on 

 Mt Cook. In 1913, two more, from the same source, were received 

 and were set free in the same locality. Unfortunately one of the latter, 

 a buck, attacked a party of tourists near the Mueller Hut, and was 

 killed by the guide. It is most unusual for chamois to attack persons, 

 but this particular animal is believed to have been in captivity for 

 some years prior to importation. By latest reports (August, 1920) the 

 flock is increasing fast and the animals are in very fine condition, 

 herds of 30, 40 and 70 being noticed at one time. There is, therefore, 

 no doubt that this species will be shortly strongly established in the 

 Southern Alps. 



Order CARNIVORA 



Family Felidje 



* Cat {Felis catus) 



Wild cats have been found in New Zealand from the early days 

 of settlement, though for long they never strayed very far from the 

 abodes of men. But after rabbits began to increase in many parts 

 at such a rate as to reduce the sheep-carrying capacity of the country, 

 sheep farmers began to purchase cats in the towns. These were taken 



^ The passage which Mr Kerr quoted, in which he spoke of the animals he 

 objected to as " shammies," is as follows : 



"Within a day or two I made another discovery. This was that the lauded 

 chamois is not a wild goat; that it is not a homed animal; that it is not shy; that it 

 does not avoid human society ; and that there is no peril in hunting it. The chamois 

 is a black or brown creature no bigger than a mustard seed ; you do not have to go 

 after it, it comes after you; it arrives in vast herds and skips and scampers all over 

 your body inside your clothes ; thus it is not shy ; but extremely sociable ; it is not 

 afraid of man, on the contrary, it will attack him; its bite is not dangerous, but 

 neither is it pleasant ; its activity has not been overstated, — ^if you try to put your 

 finger on it, it will skip a thousand times its own length at one jump, and no eye 

 is sharp enough to see where it lights. A great deal of romantic nonsense has been 

 written about the Swiss chamois and the perils of hunting it, whereas the truth 

 is that even women and children hunt it, and fearlessly; indeed, everybody hunts 

 it; the hunting is going on all the time, day and night, in bed and out of it. It is 

 poetic foolishness to hunt it with a gun ; very few people do that ; there is not one 

 man in a million can hit it with a gun. It is much easier to catch it than it is to shoot 

 it, etc., etc., etc." 



The same gentleman is credited with another amusing "acclimatisation" 

 blunder. When the Nelson Borough Council proposed to import half a dozen 

 Venetian Gondolas to be placed on the lake in the Public Gardens, he protested 

 against such extravagance — "Why not import a pair, and then let Nature take its 

 course ? " 



