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Part II

NATURALISATION OF ANIMALS

In Chapters III to VI species which have become thoroughly
established are distinguished by an asterisk.

Chapter III

MAMMALIA

Of the 48 species of Mammalia which have been introduced into New Zealand, 44 have been brought in purposely by human agency, and four accidentally. The latter are the mouse and three species of rats, but one of the latter, the Maori rat (Mus exulans), has been exterminated since European settlement began.

The following 25 species are truly feral at the present time in certain districts, some in limited areas, others very widely distributed: wallaby, common opossum, sooty opossum, pig, horse, red deer, fallow deer, Sambur deer, wapiti, white-tailed deer, moose, cattle, sheep, goats, chamois, cat, ferret, stoat, weasel, black rat, brown rat, mouse, rabbit, hare and hedgehog. The following three have been somewhat recently introduced, but cannot be said to have been naturalised yet: Japanese deer, black-tailed deer and thar.

The classification adopted in the succeeding list is that used by Frank E. Beddard in the Cambridge Natural History, 1902.

Order MARSUPIALIA

Family MACROPODIDÆ

Apparently about 12 species of marsupials have been introduced into New Zealand at various times, but only three species have established themselves and become feral. These are a wallaby and two species of phalangers, which are popularly known as opossums. Those who introduced them knew little or nothing about the exact relationships or the systematic position of these animals and no one seemed to have thought it worth while to identify them. The information about them is, and always has been, very vague; they were introduced by acclimatisation societies, private individuals and dealers, under various popular names, as kangaroos, bush kangaroos, wallabies, rock wallabies, etc., but the importance of knowing and recognising

their specific distinctness with all that this involves in difference of habits, never troubled the introducers.

*Common Scrub or Black-tailed Wallaby (Macropus ualabatus)

In 1867 the Auckland Society had three wallabies in their gardens, and a fourth was added in 1874; but there is no possibility of identifying the species, and there is no record of what came of them.

In the same year A. M. Johnson brought over some from Tasmania for the Canterbury Society. A Christchurch newspaper dated April, 1870, says:

The merit of the introduction into Canterbury province of the brushkangaroo of Tasmania is due to Captain Thomson, and from the thriving condition of those in the Society's gardens, their adaptability to the province has been proved, whilst their increase has been such as to now render their liberation desirable in suitable localities.

I cannot help thinking that this is the species which Mr Michael Studholme either imported direct from Tasmania, or bought from the Canterbury Society, and liberated at Waimate, South Canterbury. There they have increased to an extraordinary extent. Mr E. C. Studholme writing to me in February, 1916, says:

I can just remember seeing them turned loose here, two does and one buck being the number liberated. For a week or two they hung about the homestead, after which they were not seen for about two years, when some one sighted them on the hill near Waimate Gorge. They gradually spread along the adjoining hills, and are now to be found as far north as Bluecliffs. It is very hard to estimate the number there are at the present time, but it is quite safe to say there are thousands of them. Parties which go out shooting have killed as many as seventy in a day or two. They live chiefly in the bush, scrub, and fern about the gullies and gorges, coming out in the evenings to feed in the open ground. Their food chiefly consists of grass, but they are very hard on certain trees, barking many of them, particularly the Ohaus or five-leaf (Panax arboreum). There are well-defined tracks through all the bushes and scrub they frequent, much on the lines of pig tracks. I understand they are quite easy to snare, a good many being caught in that manner. If not kept in check they would, no doubt, become a great nuisance to farmers. Some years ago I sent the late F. C. Tabart of Christchurch (who was a Tasmanian) one for eating, and he wrote me saying it was a delicacy. Personally I have never eaten the meat, but the tails make very good soup. The skins of those taken in Winter make splendid rugs, being very heavy in fur, and they are much sought after. I believe they are not a wallaby, but scrub-kangaroo, as they are quite large, some of the old bucks weighing over 60 lbs.

About 1870, Sir George Grey introduced a number of species of marsupials into the island of Kawau, and among these was a wallaby (there is no record of where it came from) which increased in an almost incredible manner. Colonel Boscawen informs me that

these animals have all been killed off, "except the small brown rockwallaby, of which very few are now left." This latter species (Macropus ualabatus) was also imported to Auckland by Mr John Reed, who liberated them on Motutapu Island, where they are still common. They also crossed the narrow neck of land to Rangitoto Island, where they found a haven of rest, and where they are now abundant. Colonel Boscawen says: "The Wallaby furnishes great sport in shooting, and it is harder to hit than a rabbit, as when driven the animal does not hop, but goes on all fours and dodges from side to side, running at a great rate." Mr Cheeseman tells me that when the Island of Kawau was sold, the new owners encouraged shooting parties to go down-indeed contracts were let to kill the marsupials off the island-and the slaughter was great. One informant, whose name I have lost, told me that even in Sir George Grey's time, as many as two hundred wallabies would be killed in a battue. This gentleman considered them to be useless creatures, fit neither for food nor fur. The consensus of opinion is that the flesh is not particularly attractive, but that the tails make excellent soup. This same informant told me that at Kawau they ate out most of the vegetation, and starved out most of the other animals, being assisted in this by the hordes of opossums. They came out at nights in the fields, grazing like sheep, and in the summer went into the garden, stripping it of fruit and vegetables.

There are still a few left about Kawau, not more than a dozen or two, according to Colonel Boscawen.

Pademelon Wallaby (Macropus thetidis)

The Auckland Society had some specimens of this species in 1869, but the number is not specified, nor what came of them.

Kangaroo (Macropus species)

Under this name various animals were introduced and liberated, but it is quite impossible to identify the species.

Note. du Petit-Thouars, who visited New Zealand in 1838, says in the account of his voyage (p. 115): "Kangaroos have multiplied very well, but it is much to be regretted that there, as in New Holland, the colonists have not taken the trouble to look after them and increase their numbers, instead of leaving them to perish." I have no idea what animals he is referring to.

The Canterbury Society received a pair of kangaroos from the Rev. R. R. Bradley in 1866, and in 1868 a single large specimen from Sir George Grey. The Society's Report for 1872 states that there were "about 15" in the gardens, but no further information is vouchsafed.

The Otago Society introduced one specimen in 1867, and apparently others were privately introduced but not recorded, for the late Mr F. Deans (Curator of the Society) wrote me in 1890:

I do not know when these were liberated, but in 1869 I saw one on several occasions where the Northern Cemetery (Dunedin) now is; he went bounding out of that gully while I was passing down to my work. I heard of one or two having been killed by dogs in the gully above the rifle range.

In 1868 Mr Christopher Basstian liberated three specimens on the Dunrobin Station, but nothing was heard of them afterwards. In the same year the captain of a vessel brought three kangaroos to the Bluff, one male and two females. These were purchased by the Southland Acclimatisation Society and liberated on the range of hills there. Nothing further was ever heard of them.

Wallaroo or Euro (Macropus robustus)

Some of these kangaroos were introduced into Kawau by Sir George Grey in the sixties, but there is no subsequent record of their occurrence there.

Rock Wallaby (Petrogale xanthopus?)

In 1873 the Auckland Society received a rock wallaby from Sir James Fergusson, which was quite distinct from any previously recorded, and which it is surmised belonged to the above species. There is no later report of it.

Kangaroo Rat (Potorous tridactylus)

The Auckland Society introduced this species in 1867, but no later report of the Society mentions them.

Family PHALANGERIDÆ

*Common Opossum, Grey Opossum, Brush-tailed Opossum, or Vulpine Phalanger (Trichosurus vulpecula; Phalangista vulpina) *Sooty Opossum (Trichosurus fuliginosus)

The Australian and Tasmanian phalangers, or, as they are popularly called "opossums," which are now so common in many forestcovered parts of New Zealand were first introduced into Southland by private individuals, and a few later on into other districts by some of the societies. Details of these early introductions are somewhat inexact and difficult to obtain. One report (Wellington Acclimatisation Society, 1892) says:

These animals were first liberated in the bush behind South Riverton in 1858 by Mr Basstian. Some years after, one or two opossums (presumably Australian Grey Opossums) escaped from confinement in the same neighbourhood. In 1889 they were found to have increased enormously.

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