1 64 BIRDS 



survived the ravages of the morepork (the small native owl — Ninox 

 novce-zealandue) . 



Family Icterid^ 



Calif ornian Starling; Red-winged Starling {Agelaius phomiceus) 



The Auckland Society introduced two in 1869. They did not 



increase. 



Meadow Lark (Sturnella neglecta) 



The Auckland Society introduced two from CaHfornia in 1869; 

 but they did not increase. (This species in Button's 1871 catalogue 

 is called Stumula ludoviciana.) 



Family Fringillid^ . 



Firetail Finch {Zonceginthus bellus) 



The Auckland Society received two from Captain Coppin in 1870. 

 The Wellington Society introduced eight some time before 1885, but 

 there is no further report concerning any of them. 



Zebra Finch; Chestnut-eared Finch {Tceniopygia castanotis) 



The Wellington Society introduced 12 some time before 1885, 

 but again there is no report about them. 



Numbers of ornamental finches and small cage birds of many 

 species have been introduced from time to time for private aviaries, 

 and have been bred in confinement. Mr F. L. Hunt of Ravensbourne, 

 Dunedin, has been a particularly successful rearer of these beautiful 

 species, but when liberated they never succeed in establishing them- 

 selves. Apart from climatic reasons, they readily fall a prey to cats 

 and other enemies. 



* House-Sparrow {Passer domesticus) 



The responsibility for the introduction of the common sparrow 

 is very generally shared by the men who were so active in acclimatisa- 

 tion work 50 years ago, as the following record shows. They 

 introduced it in all good faith, and congratulated themselves on their 

 success. But it is amusing to observe how averse the implicated 

 societies are to-day to accept this responsibility. There has grown up, 

 too, by way of explanation, a certain amount of myth about the busi- 

 ness ; but the facts are incontrovertible. For example, Mr Drummond 

 in 1907 writes: 



The story is that the (Canterbury) Acclimatisation Society ordered 

 twelve dozen hedge-sparrows from England. The order was placed with 

 Captain Stevens of the ' Matoaka,' who submitted it to a bird-fancier at 

 Knightsbridge. Either the fancier or the Captain blundered, and the latter 



