want of food." Mr W. R. Bullen of Kaikoura writes me in August, 1916:

It is a well-known fact that wild pigs are very destructive among newly born lambs. I myself have watched a wild boar working a lamb like a dog so as to get straight above him on a hillside, and catch the lamb with a downhill rush, as the latter was too nimble for the boar to catch him otherwise. I think, however, that an old sow with a litter of young ones does more damage, as they follow up the ewes when lambing. We always endeavour to reduce their number before lambing commences both by hunting and laying poison. Phosphorus is usually employed in the latter

case.

Mr Kennedy of Greentown, Kaikoura, supplements this information, and informs me that when boars once begin to eat lambs, they will travel long distances to get them; fortunately the habit is not common. He thinks the habit is learned by their finding hoggetts which have got caught and hung up in lawyers (Rubus), and dying there. Sows that have a litter of young ones also attack and destroy lambs, but they do not travel any distance to do so. He adds that pigs are very destructive to rabbits, eating the young ones when they take refuge in shallow burrows; and states that where pigs are abundant, very few rabbits are to be found.

The following species of native plants, in addition to those named, are eaten by wild pigs: Gastrodia Cunnunghamii and G. sesamoides and Marattia fraxinea.

Family CAMELIDÆ

Alpaca (Lama huanacos)

Two of these animals were imported by the Otago Society in 1878, and were liberated on the property of Mr John Reid of Elderslie, Oamaru. They never increased.

Family EQUIDÆ

*Horse (Equus caballus)

It seems rather strange that in such a small country as New Zealand there should be any wild horses, but there are several areas very inaccessible and rarely visited, where escapes appear to have congregated and bred. The natives frequently have very imperfect fences, and stallions have from time to time got away and run free. Mr E. Phillips Turner of the Forestry Department and in charge of Scenic Reserves, informed me (January, 1916) that "wild horses occur on Mt Tarawera, round the base of Ruapehu, and in many places on the volcanic plateau." Mr Yarborough of Kohu Kohu states that at one time wild horses were numerous in the bush country of Hokianga

and the west coast of the Auckland peninsula. The natives used to snare them, but they were mostly so inbred as to be valueless for any purpose. They are now (1916) very scarce.

Horses were first imported into the Chatham Islands in the forties, and were commonly wild in the unsettled districts in 1868. There are probably still a few of them on the table land.

Zebra (Equus zebra)

Sir Geo. Grey, among his numerous other introductions, imported a pair of zebras into Kawau about 1870, apparently in the hope that they would breed. But one got killed, and the other had to be shot.

Family CERVIDÆ

The desire to stock the mountain country of New Zealand with large game, so that the Briton's delight in going out and killing something might be satisfied, has led to the introduction of no fewer than ten kinds of deer, in addition to other large animals. Of these, four species-red deer, fallow deer, white-tailed deer and Sambur deer-have established themselves in different parts of the country and are included among the animals for which licences to shoot are now issued. By law they are strictly preserved, but much poaching has always been and still is done. At the same time it must be remembered that the poaching is chiefly done by two classes of people, viz. residents in the neighbourhood of the districts where the game abound, and mere pot-hunters. For the first class it may be said that many farmers, who take no interest in acclimatisation work or in so-called sport, and who were not consulted in any way on the subject, object to the incursions of animals which ignore or break down their fences, harass their stock, and eat their hay and turnips. Therefore some of this destruction of imported game takes the form of reprisals for injury done to crops, fences and stock. There is practically no poaching on the property of private individuals such as is characterised by the name in the mother country, and consequently destruction of game in New Zealand is not looked upon as a heinous offence, as are breaches of the iniquitous game-laws of Britain. The game in New Zealand are either the property of the State or of the acclimatisation societies, and public opinion on the subject of their destruction is lax in comparison with what it is in countries where game is looked upon as something reserved for and sacred to the sporting instincts of a small class. Still a very fair measure of protection is ensured to the animals, and they have increased in most districts where they have been liberated. It is recognised, too, that a wealthy class of tourists can be induced to

visit the country, if, in addition to scenic attractions, there can be added those things which appeal to the sporting instincts of humanity. This has led the Government of the Dominion in recent years to devote some attention to the subject of introducing various additional kinds of big game to those already brought in by the acclimatisation societies. Several experiments have been made in this direction, and most of them seem likely to be successful.

* Red Deer (Cervus elaphus)

(a) According to Mr Huddleston, whose father was curator of the Nelson Acclimatisation Society, a red deer stag and doe were landed in that district in the fifties. The doe was killed, but the stag remained near Motueka, and ultimately joined those which were introduced in 1861. In Judge Broad's account of Nelson, he states that Felix Wakefield landed one stag in 1851. He further states that in September, 1854, the first stag was turned out on the hills near the mouth of the Waimea, brought in the ship 'Eagle.' Two hinds were sent for to England.

(b) The next importation of red deer into New Zealand was in February, 1861, when a stag and two hinds, presented by Lord Petre from his park in Essex, England, were landed in Nelson. The progeny of these animals increased and rapidly spread themselves over a great part of the high country in the provincial districts of Nelson and Marlborough of late years they have further spread into North Canterbury, and over towards the west coast. Mr Hardcastle, who in 1906 wrote a report on the red deer herds in the country, says:

The heads obtained in Nelson are of a good dark colour and fairly massive, but compared with those of Wairarapa and Hawea, they have not the same average of span or spread....Lord Petre's herd had had no new blood introduced into it for many years, so that a particular type of antler had been fixed from which there is no throwing back.

According to Mr Hardcastle the type of head of the first imported stag continues to persist, and dominates all the deer of the Nelson herd. In 1900 a herd, descended from Nelson deer, was started in the Lillburn Valley, west of the Waiau River, in Southland.

(c) In 1862 a stag and two hinds presented by the Prince Consort to Governor Weld were handed over by him to Dr Featherstone, then Superintendent of Wellington Province. The deer (six in number) were captured in Windsor Park, and housed there for some time as preparation for their long sea voyage. One stag and two hinds were shipped by the 'Triton,' for Wellington, and after a passage of 127 days, during which one hind succumbed, arrived on 6th June, 1862.

About the same time the remaining three were shipped for Canterbury, but as one only arrived it was forwarded to Wellington to join the other two. For some months these animals were kept in a stable close to "Noah's Ark," Lambton quay, and subsequently Mr C. R. Carter (then M.P. for Wairarapa) arranged to have them conveyed to Wairarapa. Owing to there being no trains in those days, the animals were placed in the crate in which they came from England, and were carted over the Rimutaka Ranges to the Taratahi Plains, where they were handed to Mr J. Robieson. This gentleman, being an Englishman, took a special interest in the animals, and kept them for some considerable time. Early in the year 1863 he liberated the deer on the Taratahi Plains, and for some time they were constant visitors to the farmers, accepting all kinds of food. Later, however, they crossed the Ruamahanga River, and took up their abode on the Maungaraki Ranges, where they rapidly increased. Mr Hardcastle reported in 1906:

The Wairarapa Forest is "probably the best stocked red deer ground on the globe. On Te Awaite run bordering on the East Coast, the deer may now be seen in bunches of up to a hundred head. At the beginning of last year it was estimated that there were fully 10,000 head on the station. According to information given in The Field of September 15th, 1906, the Windsor Park herd" (from which the original stock came), "has been replenished from English, Scottish, German and probably Danish stock. The result has produced in the Wairarapa herd, stags that are remarkable for their massive antlers, some of which are of the German type, and others again more resembling the Scottish form. The antlers do not grow to great length, but some are very wide in spread, and there is a great proportion of Imperials, the most number of points recorded being 22. The stags mature their antlers early....A number of heads have been shot on Te Awaite station, showing the abnormal development of the back tines on one antler, such as is seen to be the case of the great Warnham Park stags in England, and is probably due to the highly favourable conditions of climate, food and shelter."

From these ranges some of the finest heads in New Zealand have been secured. There is no doubt whatever that the exceptionally rich limestone formation and the English grasses were responsible for the large growth of horn.

(d) In 1871 the Otago Society imported 15 red deer, some of which were sent to the care of Mr Rich of Bushy Park, Palmerston, while seven were liberated on the Morven Hills run east of Lake Hawea. Those at Bushy Park spread over into the Horse Range, but they did not succeed, and no definite explanation of the failure has been given. Probably the country was not high and wild enough; on one side they were encroaching all the time on well-stocked sheep country, and on the other on old-settled farm land, besides which

there were many old diggers still about the neighbourhood. From one cause or another they did not succeed well. Mr Hardcastle states that they are still to be met with on the Horse Range, but they have always been heavily shot by settlers.

The seven which were liberated on the Morven Hills were part of a shipment received from the estates of the Earl of Dalhousie in Forfarshire, Scotland. They are the only lot of pure Scottish red deer in the country. They multiplied at a great rate and have spread over the country between Lakes Wanaka, Hawea and Ohau. They have worked their way up the Hunter and Makarora rivers, across the Haast Pass into South Westland, and right up to the neighbourhood of Mount Cook. Most of this country runs from 3000 to 7000 feet in height, and much of it is very steep and rugged. But it contains much bush in the valleys and gullies, and the open country is well grassed in summer. Hardcastle says:

The North Otago Stags maintain the true Scottish type of antler, but they grow to much greater length than the antlers of any stags that have been shot in the British Isles. The antlers are also remarkable for their symmetry and perfection in the development of the tines, and particularly the lower tines.... Some magnificent heads have been got, including a 17- and 18-pointer, and two Royals each 46 inches in length of antlers. The coats of the stags are generally shaggy, owing, no doubt, to the severe climate in winter.

Recently (1918) Mr Hardcastle informs me that the record length for an Otago red deer head is 49 inches (J. Forbes, Christchurch); record spread 50 inches (J. Faulks, Makarora); and record points 20 (J. Fraser, Mount Aspiring); “and I think a 20-pointer was got in the Makarora." In 1895 the Otago Society obtained two fine stags from the Hunt Club, Melbourne, to add to the North Otago herd. I do not know what special strain these belonged to. Again in 1913 the Society imported a stag and six hinds from Warnham Park, England, the object being to introduce new blood into the herds.

(e) One stag was brought over from Hobart to Christchurch in 1867 by Mr A. M. Johnson, and was kept in the Acclimatisation Gardens for a time. In 1897 the Canterbury Society imported nine red deer, but it is not recorded from whence, and liberated them in the gorge of the Rakaia River. They have increased rapidly since, herds of 40 and more having been seen from time to time. Some of the heaviest heads secured in New Zealand have been got from this herd. According to Mr Hardcastle the record length of a head from the Rakaia Gorge is 48 inches (Williams, England); the record spread 46 inches (G. Sutherland, Christchurch), and the record points 24, from the same head. But in 1918-19 Mr Barrer of Wellington secured one with a length of 50 inches.