PASSERIFORMES 167 



Mr T. B. Hill himself and received a letter dated ist July, 1916, in 

 which he says : 



As I see it is going the round of the papers that I and the late Mr 

 Morrin introduced the sparrows I shall be glad if you will contradict this. 

 I don't think for a moment my friend Mr Cheeseman made the statements 

 intentionally, but as I believe he was Secretary of the Auckland Acclimatisa- 

 tion Society at the time, of which Council I was an individual member, 

 I think if he refers back he will see it was the Auckland Society that intro- 

 duced them. With many other birds they were sold by auction by Mr S. 

 Jones at his Auction Mart, and the House-sparrow was the favourite. 

 I was, I think, the largest purchaser at One pound per pair, and I successfully 

 acclimatised them to my building, with Mr Soppet's Flour Mill adjoining, 

 in Freeman's Bay, and soon had all the sparrows others had brought down 

 in my yard and flying in and out of the window of my room, where I 

 kept several confined. I had people come to me for birds to replace what 

 they had lost at the price I paid for mine. The first breeding season they 

 proved a great nuisance in filling the spouting and other places in the Bay 

 with their nests. So many of us then were not yet acclimatised ourselves 

 that when we woke in the morning hearing the little " cheer-up, cheer-up," 

 it made us fancy we were back in the old country again. I certainly sent 

 them to friends in the country who were anxious to get them. There now 

 you have the whole history as far as I am concerned. 



In 1865 the ship 'Viola' from Glasgow arrived at Auckland, and 

 landed two sparrows out of six dozen which were shipped. 



In 1864 the Nelson Society imported a number of Sparrows, 

 but only one was landed alive. In 1871 six were introduced, and were 

 liberated at Stoke, where they soon increased. 



The Otago Society liberated three in 1868, and 11 in 1869. 



The sparrows very quickly increased in all parts of New Zealand 

 until they became a very serious pest. But while farmers rail at them 

 to-day, it has to be remembered that at the time of their introduction 

 crops of grain and grass were threatened with absolute destruction 

 by the hordes of grubs and pigeons. Mr Drummond in his very able 

 pamphlet on "our feathered immigrants" (1907) has summarised the 

 case for and against the sparrow, as far as New Zealand is concerned, 

 with the balance very much against. Nearly every county council and 

 agricultural association in the country wages war on him, by selling 

 poisoned grain to the farmers, and offering bonuses for eggs. Yet 

 he continues to thrive and flourish. 



Mr R. E. Clouston writing (July, 1916) of the Gouland Downs 

 in the Nelson district, which is noted for the abundance of its native 

 bird life, and where thrushes, blackbirds, skylarks, and particularly 

 redpolls are common, says that in all the years he was there he only 

 saw about two sparrows. Mr Philpott observes that while the sparrow 

 is abundant in cultivated country it does not penetrate far into the 



