INTRODUCTION. 



XXXlll 



The question naturally arises, to what is the disappearance of these actively volant birds due ? 

 The introduced rat has no doubt been a potent factor in this business ; and the Maoris believe 

 that the bees, by taking possession of the wild flowers, have driven out the birds. But there are 

 doubtless other causes at work, of which we have at present no certain knowledge. 



There can be no doubt that the introduction of foreign birds has in a great measure contributed 

 to this result. The incomers, profiting by the new conditions of life, have displaced many of the 

 indigenous species. I was much struck with this on one occasion just before my departure from 

 New Zealand, when, on a visit to the inland township of Levin, I took a stroll through the 

 beautiful clump of native bush still standing on the Native Reserve adjacent to the settlement. 

 How changed everything was now from what it was a few years ago ! Instead of the song of 

 native birds, you have on all hands the familiar notes of the Sparrow and the Greenfinch, the 

 Linnet and the Goldfinch. Nothing else of the native element remained but the soft trill of the 

 Grey Warbler, warbling to himself in the underwood. I could scarcely realise the complete change 

 and could quite appreciate the Maori's pathetic reference to it when he remarked, " So is the Pakeha 

 replacing the Maori on the lands of our ancestors ! " For a short time certainly there was a Tui 

 singing gaily in a lofty tree-top ; and then, moved by some sudden impulse, he darted downwards, 

 passing through a sunlit glade in the forest, his white epaulettes shimmering in the light. Then 

 all was silent again, save for the lively twittering of the Sparrow and his foreign friends. 



Whether the various Acclimatisation Societies have always exercised a wise discretion in 

 the birds they have chosen to introduce remains yet to be proved.* 



* There has been much heated discussion, for example, over the question of introducing the House Sparrow. If 

 the importation was in reality a bad one, I must take my share of the blame that attaches to it, for I was an active 

 member of the Council of the Wanganui Acclimatisation Society, which was the first body, I think, to move in this 

 matter in 1865-6. All I have to urge in defence of the poor, persecuted Passer domesticus will be found at pages xliv. 

 to xlvii. of my Introduction to vol. I. But I take this opportunity of reprinting the observations on this point of a very 

 thoughtful local observer, Mr. W. W. Smith : "In the early days of the colony vast swarms of caterpillars infested 

 the open grassy country, living in the dense tussock (poa). In a few years, after the annual burning of the sheep-runs 

 commenced, the caterpillars disappeared from the plains and attacked the cereal crops, working great destruction 

 among them. Some years after the introduction of the House Sparrow, which increased at an unprecedented rate, the 

 caterpillars were soon reduced in numbers, and are now no more trouble to the agriculturist. They were the larvae of 

 the Yellow-underwing moth, still to be obtained feeding on the introduced Cape broom. The species would un- 

 questionably increase, and probably again become troublesome to farmers, but for the presence of the House Sparrow, 

 which hunts vigorously in the hedges for the larvas, and keeps them in check." But, whether a fortunate importation 

 or not, the Sparrow has come to stay ! The persistency with which this ubiquitous bird asserts itself in all parts of 

 the world is something quite astonishing. In New York it is now as numerous as elsewhere. I was amused on 

 visiting the Central Park at seeing what a singular spot a pair had selected for their nest. There is, as all visitors to 

 the Park are aware, standing in a commanding position, a colossal bronze statue to the memory of Daniel Webster, 

 the American patriot. In the half-closed left hand the birds had found a convenient and sheltered receptacle for their 

 nest ; and the ends of straw and other loose materials of which it was composed could be seen dangling from the 

 patriot's wrist at every point of view ! But the English Sparrow is not to be outdone in enterprise of this kind, and 

 indeed, " goes one better" than his Trans-Atlantic cousin; for, at a later date, I noticed that the bronze statue of 

 George Canning, standing in Westminster Place, opposite to the Houses of Parliament, had been utilised in the same 

 manner, and that the Sparrows had found accommodation there for two nests — one being placed in the fold of the 

 robe above the right hand and the other in a similar cavity under the wrist. And here, when I saw it (summer of 

 1900), two young broods of Sparrows were being cradled in the midst of English politics ! And, not content with this, 

 they have appropriated, as a nesting place, the clock of the parish Church of St. Matthew, in Bethnal Green. In the 

 face are two small holes which afford the Sparrows ingress ; and the nesting operations within the clock do not appear 

 to have affected in any way its normal working. 



Before hastily condemning the Sparrow in New Zealand, I should like his judges to read the testimony of the late 

 Mr. W. T. L. Travers, in his last communication to the Wellington Philosophical Society. In retiring from the office 

 of President, he referred to the inaugural address delivered by himself, a year before, under the title of ' The Bird as 

 e 



