le oe 
* 
208 A. G. HAMILTON. 
a small thriving colony of rabbits may be met with, living princi- 
pally on a watery yam something after the nature of a radish. 
» « . Very serious damage has been done by the rabbits to the 
scrub country. Four species of trees have been found to be un- 
barked by the rabbits, and while the rabbits have killed some 
useless bushes, and prepared country for the growth of grass, still 
the carrying capacity of the land is much affected by the pest.” 
Destruction of this kind done in a dry year is never got over 
thoroughly. What the rabbits begin, the drought finishes and . 
the pasture land is never again the same. Of course myriads of 
the animals perish in such a season, but the rapid breeding of the 
survivors soon brings the numbers up again, when a good season 
comes, and then the next drought advances the destruction another 
stage. Large amounts of money have been speut by South Aus- 
tralia, Victoria, Tasmania, New Zealand, and New South Wales, 
and by private individuals in endeavouring to exterminate the pest. 
In an article in Scribner's Magazine for February, 1892, on 
“Station life in Australia,” by Mr. Sydney Dickenson, the writer 
gives, on the authority of Mr. Black, Chief Inspector under the 
Vermin Destruction Act, Victoria Lands Department, the follow- 
ing figures: ‘“‘ Expenditure in connection with the destruction of 
rabbits in Australia for the seven years ending 30th December, 
1890—Victoria, £190,000; New South Wales, £820,000; South 
Australia, £250,000; and expended by land owners in same 
period and approximate losses of crops and grass, £2,700,000. 
During five years prior to 1889, New Zealand, Queensland, and 
Tasmania, spent £150,000 in the same way, and the personal 
expenditure and losses of the owners for that period in these 
three colonies is estimated at £750,000. This would make a 
grand total of £4,860,000.” 
A reward of £25,000 offered by the New South Wales Govern- 
ment for a method of destroying the rabbits, brought out a multi- 
tude of plans, the chief being Pasteur’s method of inoculating 
with chicken cholera, but no certain remedy has been hit on yet. 
COI NE Ole tee» 
