GENERAL NOTES. 3 1 



the original price paid by original subscribers in this colony. Sub- 

 scribers who possess this work will, however, do well to retain it ; for 

 there is no reason why it should not, like the former edition, rise to a 

 phenomenal value in the course of a few years. The cost of producing 

 the highly finished illustrations in colours is so enormous that it is 

 hardly likely ever to reach a third edition ; whilst on the other hand, 

 the birds themselves are becoming so rapidly extinct that ere long 

 many of the species will be a mere memory of the past. We have 

 lately seen a letter from Sir George Grey, in which he refers to it as 

 " a valuable and beautiful work," which he has added to his 

 munificent gifts of books to the Auckland Free Library. Professor 

 McCoy, F.R.S., the accomplished Director-General of the National 

 Museum at Melbourne, who is himself engaged on the Fauna of 

 Victoria, says, in a letter to Sir Walter Buller : — "T congratulate you 

 " heartily on the magnificent work which you have completed — taking 

 ■'' letterpress and figures together, far and away the finest local Fauna 

 " the Colonies have seen. You have shewn the way, but it will be 

 "'very hard indeed to follow." 



The Spread of Ferrets, Weasels and Stoats in the South 

 Island. — The action of the Government of this colony in introducing 

 these noxious vermin, at the instigation of a few runholders, proves to 

 be a most disastrous experiment as far as the indigenous avifauna is 

 concerned. The following extract is instructive. It is taken from the 

 report furnished to the Surveyor-General by Mr. G. Mueller, Chief 

 Surveyor of Westland, of a " Reconnaissance Survey of the head-waters 

 of the Okuru, Acton, and Burke Rivers, Westland," and appears in the 

 last report (1890) of the Survey Department. Mr. Mueller says : — 

 " During the past summer several weasels and ferrets were caught and 

 killed at the Okuru and Waiatoto settlements. These creatures were 

 taken close to, and some within a mile from, the sea coast. To the 

 question as to where they come from there could be only one answer : 

 nobody introduced them into Westland, and hence they must have 

 been the progeuy of those imported by the Government, and must have 

 found their way across the Dividing Range, from either Otago or Can- 

 terbury, or both. But in the absence of any signs of rabbits about the 

 coast settlements, it is difficult to understand what brought these crea- 

 tures over. This mystery was effectually cleared up on my exploration 

 trip. We were prepared to meet with rabbits on the first day's travel 

 inland, but we were disappointed. It was not until we got near the 

 Actor, about nineteen miles from the sea-coast, that we noticed the first 

 traces of rabbits, and it was not until we got to the very head- waters of 

 the Okuru that we saw the rabbits in numbers. The ferrets and 

 weasels, no doubt came up the Dividing Range with the rabbits, but as 

 soon as they discovered our ground-birds — our kakapos, kiwis, wood- 

 hens, blue-ducks, and such like — they followed up the more palatable 

 game. This is what brought the ferrets and weasels down to the coast 

 settlements, and the rabbits on our side of the dividing rancie will 

 henceforth be left undisturbed and be allowed to spread as they please. 

 Past experiences have satisfied me that rabbits never will do much 

 mischief on the West Coast. Years ago they were turned out in 

 several parts of Westland — parts most favourable to them, open lands 

 and sandhills — but they all died out. The climate is evident^ too 

 damp for them, and they certainly will never thrive in our dense bush- 



