The Project Gutenberg EBook of Wild Life in New Zealand. Part I. Mammalia., by George M. Thomson This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. Title: Wild Life in New Zealand. Part I. Mammalia. New Zealand Board of Science and Art. Manual No. 2. Author: George M. Thomson Release Date: March 16, 2018 [EBook #56762] Language: English Character set encoding: UTF-8 *** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WILD LIFE IN NEW ZEALAND, PART I *** Produced by F E H, MWS and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive) cover NEW ZEALAND BOARD OF SCIENCE AND ART. MANUAL No. 2. WILD LIFE IN NEW ZEALAND. PART I.—MAMMALIA. BY Hon. Geo. M. THOMSON, M.L.C., F.L.S., F.N.Z.Inst. ILLUSTRATED. titlepage WELLINGTON, N.Z. BY AUTHORITY: MARCUS F. MARKS, GOVERNMENT PRINTER. 1921. OTHER WORKS BY THE SAME AUTHOR. The Ferns and Fern Allies of New Zealand. Melbourne, 1882. Out of print. Introductory Class-book of Botany. Wellington, 1891; second edition, Wellington, 1906. A New Zealand Naturalists’ Calendar. Dunedin, 1909. The History of the Portobello Marine Fish-hatchery. Board of Science and Art Bulletin No. 2. Wellington. Now in the press. The Naturalization of Animals and Plants in New Zealand. Cambridge University Press. Now in the press. TABLE OF CONTENTS. Chapter I.—Introduction. Chapter II.—Marsupialia: Wallabies and Opossums. Chapter III.—Ungulata: Wild Pigs. Chapter IV.—Ungulata: Deer. Chapter V.—Ungulata: Fallow, Red, and Sambur Deer. Chapter VI.—Ungulata: Wild Cattle, Sheep, and Goats. Chapter VII.—Cetacea: Whales, Dolphins, and Porpoises. ChapterVIII.—Carnivora: Cats and Dogs. Chapter IX.—Carnivora: Ferrets, Stoats, and Weasels. Chapter X.—Carnivora: Seals. Chapter XI.—Chiroptera: New Zealand Bats. Chapter XII.—Rodentia: Rats. ChapterXIII.—Rodentia: Mice and Guinea-pigs. ChapterXIV.—Rodentia: Rabbits. Chapter XV.—Rodentia: Hares. Insectivora: Hedgehogs. fallowdeer Fallow Deer. WILD LIFE IN NEW ZEALAND. PART I.—MAMMALIA. CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION. In a land which depends to a very large extent on agricultural and pastoral pursuits and industries some knowledge of the animal and vegetable life of the country should be taught in every school, and the love of Nature in all her varied aspects should be inculcated in every child. The best way of acquiring such knowledge is by observation, and every child is more or less a naturalist from the start. It has been said that man is a classificatory animal, and it is wonderful how most children begin to collect such objects as interest them, and how, unconsciously, they begin to classify them. But, hand-in-hand with observational work, a certain amount of instruction is very helpful, and if the one can work in harmoniously with the other progress in the knowledge of Nature is greatly facilitated. Books conveying instruction in botany are common enough, but those dealing with the rudiments of zoological work in a form sufficiently attractive to the uninformed reader are by no means numerous. I do not know of any work dealing with the animals which are frequently met with in New Zealand, and in the hope of partly supplying this want I propose to write a few sketches of the wild life of the country, in which I shall attempt to give some account of those which are most common. The late Professor Hutton and Mr. James Drummond, of Christchurch, published some years ago a valuable work entitled “Animals of New Zealand,” which should be in every school library. This, besides being rather expensive for most private readers, is a more or less technical work, and deals only with the higher vertebrate fauna indigenous to these Islands. Excellent little articles appear from time to time in the School Journal, but these are not readily procurable. In all centres of settlement the animal life is almost as much due to foreign immigration as the people are; but observers cannot tell this fact without some assistance, and one of the difficulties with which all embryo naturalists are met is to know which plants and animals are native and which are introduced. Let me illustrate this. Living as I do in a suburb of Dunedin, just outside the Town Belt, I observe in my walks that in this neighbourhood certain species of birds are very common. They are house-sparrows, blackbirds, thrushes, starlings, and hedge- sparrows. These are all forms which have been introduced from Great Britain. Almost as abundant, but more erratic in their occurrence, are wax-eyes (or twinkies) and goldfinches—the former a somewhat recent immigrant, apparently from Australia, and the latter introduced from Britain. Less abundant in varying degree are grey warblers, tomtits, fan- tailed flycatchers, chaffinches, greenfinches, an occasional yellowhammer, and a little brown owl. The first three are [Pg 6] natives, the rest are introduced. The native bell-bird (or korimako) visits the gardens from time to time, especially when the trees are in flower; while occasionally in the outlying districts one hears or sees a tui or a morepork: these are all natives. In the more open country introduced skylarks are common, as are the native ground-larks, or pipits. On the seashore are numerous species of birds, but these are all indigenous species. On still nights one often hears the black swans flying overhead in their migrations from one sheet of water to another: these were introduced from Western Australia. About the house are occasionally a few mice, and in town brown rats are common. These are not kept in check by the dogs and cats which are common in many houses. During the nights hedgehogs roam about the gardens, and are far more common than unobservant people have any notion of. All these and the other mammals met with, such as horses and cattle, sheep, goats, pigs, and rabbits, were originally introduced, mostly from Britain. When I go to work in the garden I turn up numerous earthworms, nearly all belonging to introduced species—unless I start to trench in new ground, when I come on native species. The wood-lice are introduced; so are the earwigs, which are so common in the north end of Dunedin; so are all the slugs and snails. The bees and humble-bees are introduced, as are the large drone-flies which visit so many of our flowers in autumn and early winter. Nearly all the plants in our fields, orchards, and gardens, cultivated ones and weeds alike, are of foreign origin; so are the aphides and scale insects which infest them. The flies which infest our houses and carry dirt and disease in all directions are foreigners; so are the borers which destroy our houses and furniture; and so also are bugs, fleas, and lice, which are harboured in dirty surroundings. The question might well be asked, Where do the native species come in? The answer would have to be that wherever man goes certain species of animals and plants follow him, and become established if the conditions are suitable; while another section he either takes with him for their utility or introduces afterwards for various reasons; and the native species gradually get pushed out. Let us consider these two kinds of introductions. The only mammals in New Zealand which were introduced by man unconsciously are rats and mice. These accompany man wherever he goes and settles, and do so very much against his will. All the other forms—horses, opossums, wallabies, cattle, sheep, goats, pigs, deer, dogs, cats, hares, rabbits, hedgehogs, and guinea-pigs—were introduced of set purposes. All the introduced birds were also brought to this country on purpose. So were the introduced fishes—salmon, trout, carp, perch, tench, turbot, &c. So were the frogs. As we get lower down the scale of the animal kingdom we find the self-introduced forms increasing in proportion and number, and those brought in for definite reasons becoming fewer. No fewer than twenty-eight species of slugs and snails have been introduced into the country. Of these, one—a water-snail (Lymnaea stagnalis)—was brought here for the purpose of feeding imported trout; all the rest were imported among some kind of agricultural or horticultural produce. The case of the insects is especially interesting. About 270 species have been introduced. Those kinds which were first brought for some definite purpose were silkworms, then honey-bees, and later humble-bees. An unsuccessful attempt was also made to introduce the cochineal insect. The silkworms, which are, of course, not wild animals in any sense of the term, never became established, but they can still be obtained from a few dealers. The humble-bees were brought here for the special purpose of fertilizing red clover; and thus obtaining seed from the plants, instead of having constantly to import seed from abroad. In more recent years eleven species of insects—mostly ichneumons and ladybirds—have been introduced by the Department of Agriculture to cope with other insects which have become pests, the larvae of the former being parasites in the bodies of their prey, the latter feeding directly upon aphides. All the other introduced insects—that is, over 250 species—have been brought here unwittingly. Nineteen species of earthworms have found their way into the country, most probably among the earth and the roots of introduced plants. It will thus be seen that wherever people are settled in New Zealand the greatest number of animals to be met with are immigrants like themselves. A popular account, therefore, of the wild life of the country must deal with these introductions, as well as with those native forms which are still to be met with commonly. This, then, must be my apology for writing some sort of consecutive account of the common animals which are now to be found near the haunts of men, as well as of those which take some finding. Descriptions of introduced animals are to be obtained only by reading books of natural history dealing with other countries, or in isolated articles, such as the useful leaflets issued from time to time by the Department of Agriculture. Nearly all children, and a majority of grown-up people as well, are fond of natural history, and many who have lost the early taste find it revive when they are brought in contact with it later. I should feel rewarded if this little book should stimulate the love of nature in any of its readers, and especially if it would cause a more general desire for nature-study to spring up in our schools. The first Europeans who landed in New Zealand and who came to know something of the animals which were to be met with were those who came with Captain Cook in his visit here in 1769. They found that the birds and beasts were very different from those they had known in the Homeland from which they had come. They also noticed that there were very few animals or plants which were desirable for food, or which were likely to furnish food to later arrivals; and Cook was sufficiently far-seeing to recognize that before long many of his countrymen would come to these Islands either to visit them or to stay. These early European voyagers found that the Maoris, whom they met for the first time, and who were far more numerous than they are now, had no domestic animals except dogs, which they kept for food. [Pg 7] [Pg 8] [Pg 9] They also found that a rat was very common in many parts; but they met with no other four-footed animals, except, probably, lizards. So Cook and those who followed him thought it would be a good thing for the country, and for the Europeans who might come later to live in it, if the best and most useful animals and plants which occurred in Britain were brought to New Zealand. They were, then, the pioneers in starting the introduction of European forms by giving the Natives pigs, goats, fowls, and seeds of several plants. Other animals and plants were brought here from time to time, and as white people increased in number, and gradually occupied much of the land and brought it into cultivation, these introduced forms in certain localities soon displaced many of the native forms. All the thickly peopled and settled parts of New Zealand are much more like parts of Europe as far as animals and plants are concerned than they are like the New Zealand which Cook knew. The reason is that wherever white men go to settle they take with them certain animals and plants, which they keep and cultivate. Besides, as already said, a great many things come into the new country with the immigrants—things which are not wanted, perhaps, but which follow white men wherever they go—and these things frequently become very common. We call the plants “weeds” because they grow where they are not wanted. But we have no name for the uninvited animals—mostly small—which thus come into the country, until perhaps they become very common, and then we just call them “pests”—nasty hurtful things to be destroyed and got rid of. Now, if we are going to study the natural history of the country—both its native (or indigenous) and introduced animals and plants—we must put away from our minds the idea of “weeds” and “pests,” and look at and think of them as wonderful works of creation, full of beauty and interest. All nature is full of beauty, and if one looks for this it will be found everywhere. It will also be found that the study of the book of nature is unending. It does not stop, like the story of a book, but the more one learns and the more one comes to know the more one will find fresh chapters opening. If you are a naturalist, a true lover of Nature, and study her for half a century, you will find at the end of that time that you are only beginning to learn a little about the wonderful things which occur and exist in this wonderful world in which we live. In describing the more common animals of New Zealand I am going to follow the regular order in which a naturalist would probably catalogue them. At this point a word is necessary as to the names to be used. Some people profess to object very strongly to the use of technical names, and say, “Give us English names that we can understand.” The objection is absurd, and arises from ignorance and want of thought. How could a naturalist give English names to the thousands of native and introduced moths, beetles, and flies already known? To take a more special case among the beetles alone, how could he distinguish among the twenty-five species of native and the half-dozen or more introduced ladybirds? The thing cannot be done. On the other hand, technical names are given on a definite and simple plan, and are really not difficult to master. We use them every day in speaking of garden-plants—Anemone, Crocus, Gladiolus, Chrysanthemum, Dahlia, Fuchsia, Veronica, and so on. In regard to the animals we are to deal with in this book we hardly need to use technical names, and will do so as sparingly as possible. The first and highest group in the animal kingdom are the Mammalia. These are vertebrate (or back-boned) animals which are fur-clad, and the females have glands which secrete milk for the nourishment of the young. These glands open to the surface of the body by teats, or mammae, hence the name. Mammals are all warm-blooded animals. There are many other distinctive features by which animals of this group are characterized, both anatomical and physiological, but here we intend to give only the most distinctive points. Mammals are divided into several orders, and of these six are now represented in the New Zealand fauna. As I do not wish to burden these pages with technicalities, I shall give only the briefest accounts of these orders, and mention the animals found here which belong to them. 1. The animals of the order Marsupialia are popularly known as pouched animals. Their most distinctive character is that the mammae lie within a pouch in which the young are placed while in an imperfect condition. Two kinds of animals belonging to this order are wild in New Zealand—namely, wallabies and so-called opossums. 2. The order Ungulata includes a large assemblage of herbivorous animals of somewhat diverse character. They possess theoretically five toes in each foot, but actually these are reduced to two, or, in the case of the horse, to one toe. This reduction is accompanied by a reduced condition of the ulna, which is fused with the radius, and the fibula is fused with the tibia. The order includes horses, pigs, deer, oxen, sheep, and goats, all of which are, or have been, wild in this country. 3. The third order, Cetacea, forms an extraordinary group of warm-blooded animals, which breathe air and suckle their young, but live in the sea. It includes all the forms known as whales, and all are indigenous to New Zealand. 4. The Carnivora are, as their name implies, flesh-eaters. Their teeth have sharp cutting-edges, and the canines are well developed to enable them to tear the flesh off their prey. The order includes cats, dogs, stoats, ferrets, and weasels, all of which have been introduced; and seals, which are indigenous. 5. The animals of the order Rodentia are only occasionally carnivorous. All possess long incisors furnished with strong chisel-like edges, and with these they are able to gnaw their food, from which circumstance the name is derived. The canine teeth are quite absent. In New Zealand are to be found rats, mice, rabbits, and hares. 6. The last order represented here is the Insectivora, a group, mostly of small animals, which is very difficult to define. [Pg 10] [Pg 11] The only animal belonging to the order in New Zealand is the hedgehog. CHAPTER II. MARSUPIALIA—WALLABIES AND OPOSSUMS. Numerous attempts have been made to introduce various kinds of marsupials into New Zealand, and several kinds of kangaroos, wallabies, and opossums have been liberated in this country. At the present time there are either three or four species found wild in different parts. Common Scrub Wallaby; Black-tailed Wallaby (Macropus ualabatus). Some fifty years ago the late Mr. Studholme got some wallabies either direct from Tasmania or from the Canterbury Acclimatization Society, and these were set free in the neighbourhood of his home at Waimate, in South Canterbury. They very quickly increased, till they numbered thousands. They live in the bush, scrub, and fern about the gullies and gorges. They come out in the evenings to feed in the open ground. Their food consists chiefly of grass, but they are very fond of certain trees, particularly Panax arboreum, which they scratch and bark pretty badly. The skins of those taken in winter make very fine rugs, as the fur is thick and heavy. The flesh is said to be very palatable, and the tails make excellent soup. They are quite large creatures—small kangaroos, in fact—and the old bucks weigh over 60 lb. About the year 1870 Sir George Grey imported some wallabies from Australia and set them free on Kawau Island. About the same time Mr. John Reed, of Auckland, also imported some, which he liberated on Motutapu Island, whence they have spread to Rangitoto. Those on Kawau increased to such an extent as nearly to eat out the vegetation, and when the property was sold the new owners allowed the wallabies to be killed out wholesale. They have by now been mostly all destroyed. Even in Sir George Grey’s time us many as two hundred would be killed in a single battue. Some got across to the mainland—a swim of three miles—but they cannot be very numerous. They belong to the same species as those so common at Waimate. scrub [W. Beken, photo. Fig. 1.—The Common Scrub Wallaby. Common Opossum (Trichosurus vulpecula), and Sooty Opossum (Trichosurus fuliginosa). People who live in or near the bush in many parts of New Zealand know that among the trees are to be found numerous furry animals about the size of a big terrier dog, which are popularly known as opossums. The name is a misnomer, like so many popular names. The true opossums are found only in America; they belong to a different family of marsupials, and are carnivorous. Our animals are herbivorous, and ought to be called phalangers; but the other name will always stick to them now. These animals are not usually seen during the daytime, but they come out at night, and, when other kinds of food are short, may make an attack on the orchards and eat the apples and pears as they are becoming ripe. But because they are chiefly nocturnal in their habits young people seldom see them, and unobservant people may live in a district containing thousands of opossums and never know that they occur in the neighbourhood. These animals are not natives of New Zealand. They were first brought to this country from Australia about sixty years ago, and were liberated near Riverton. Later importations have frequently been made, both private individuals and acclimatization societies introducing them. Thus the Auckland Society and Sir George Grey brought a considerable number from Australia between 1869 and 1876, and Kawau at one time was overrun with them. The Wellington Society liberated nineteen Tasmanian black opossums in the ranges behind Paraparaumu in 1892; and the Otago Society got twelve silver-grey opossums from Gippsland in 1895, and liberated them in the Catlin’s district. They have increased greatly in most wooded parts of the Dominion. opossum [W. Beken, photo. Fig. 2.—The Common Opossum. The opossum is a marsupial—that is, its young are brought forth in a very rudimentary condition, and are carried by the mother in a special pouch, which is provided with teats. When newly born they are little blind (?), naked creatures, not half as long as one’s little finger. The mother takes the little one in her lips and places it in the pouch with its mouth to a teat, and in this position it is carried for about four months. For the next two months it rides on the mother’s back, until it is able to look after itself. It leaves its mother when about six months old, and is then nearly half-grown. The opossum has only one young one once a year. (On the other hand, the true American opossum produces as many as a dozen at a time.) When fully grown the opossum is about 18 in. long. It has a thick, bushy tail, about 11 in. long, the end [Pg 12] [Pg 13] [Pg 14] [Pg 15] [Pg 16] of which is blackish in colour. From this thick tail these animals are sometimes known in Australia as “brush-tailed opossums.” The legs are short and strong, and each foot is furnished with five fingers or toes. The bodies are covered with close, thick, woolly fur. In the first-named species the upper part of the body is a grizzled-grey colour, with the chin blackish, a rusty patch on the chest, and the rest of the under-surface whitish or yellowish. In the sooty opossum the fur is of a dark brownish-black colour. Otherwise the two species are very like one another. The head is small and somewhat fox-like, with rather short ears. These animals live in trees, taking shelter in holes during the day, and sometimes they make a kind of rough nest at the bottom of the hole. The trees which they frequent are often marked by the tracks scored on the trunk by the sharp claws of the animals as they climb. They ascend the trees in a succession of jerks or short jumps, stretching out their feet and claws as far as possible on each side, and rarely losing their hold. In descending a tree they always come down head first. In Australia opossums feed on the leaves of various species of Eucalyptus (or gum) trees, taking to other food only when these are scarce owing to clearing of the bush. In New Zealand they feed on whatever the bush supplies them with, chiefly leaves and shoots. Mr. F. Hunt, of Round Hill, says of them, “The food the opossum lives on is chiefly leaves of broadleaf, kamahi, broad-gum (Panax), and mapau (Pittosporum), rata-blossoms, supplejack-berries, berries of fuchsia and makomako, and practically all the seeds and blossoms that grow in this part of the bush. The opossum is not a grass-eating animal. It will eat white or red clover, sweetbrier shoots and seeds, but if an opossum is caged and fed on grass it will die of starvation. Also, if it were fed on turnips it would take as much to feed twelve opossums as one sheep would eat. When I and my brother were catching opossums for the Southland Acclimatization Society we fed them on carrots, boiled wheat, bread, boiled tea-leaves with sugar, and anything sweet. The damage the opossums would do running at large would be very little, seeing that they never come on to open country. The animal is blamed for barking apple-trees; but the opossum does not bark a tree. It might scratch the bark with its teeth, but it does not strip it off.” Colonel Boscawen, of Auckland, who is a most reliable authority, tells me that as long as there is plenty of green stuff available opossums do not interfere with fruit, but that the damage they are often charged with is the work of rats— presumably black rats. On the other hand, at Kawau, Motutapu, Hawera, and other places they are stated to be destructive in orchards, eating the shoots of apple and plum trees in the spring-time and the fruit in the autumn. The number of opossums in this country now is enormous. In 1912 it was estimated that over sixty thousand skins were taken in the Catlin’s district alone. Some acclimatization societies try to protect these animals, while fruitgrowers seek to destroy them. The law is rather complex on the subject, and few laymen know whether or not it is legal to destroy them. Meanwhile a large number are killed annually; but their skins are often declared as rabbit-skins, though, as a matter of fact, they are worth four or five times as much. CHAPTER III. UNGULATA—WILD PIGS. Most people think they know all about pigs, and hardly associate them with wild life in New Zealand. They usually consider them the dirtiest creatures on earth, and yet, with remarkable inconsistency, they eat ham and bacon without inquiring too particularly how the animals producing them were reared or fed. The pig is naturally one of the cleanest animals and most particular feeders known, and it is only the filthy way in which most people keep them which is responsible for their popular reputation. Pigs are the commonest of the larger mammals which have become feral in New Zealand, and are the most widespread. They are plentiful in wild bush country from the North Cape to the Bluff, and have also gone wild in the Chatham and Auckland Islands. I hope to be able to tell the majority of my readers some facts about these much- maligned animals which they did not know before. Pigs (Sus scrofa) belong to the section of Ungulates known as the Artiodactyla, or even-toed. They walk on their third and fourth toes, which are the only ones to reach the ground; those on each side, which are much smaller and higher up, are the second and fifth digits; there is no trace of the first. Pigs are distinguished by several characters, of which the most outstanding are the bristly skin, the flexible snout tipped by a fleshy disk within which the nostrils open, the numerous teeth and tusk-like canines, while the teats extend along the underside of the body. They possess a single stomach, and are consequently non-ruminating animals. Pigs increase at a great rate, for they commence to bear young when about a year old, and bring forth several at a birth. Domestic pigs produce twelve, or even more, at a time; but wild pigs seldom have more than six or seven. We have the most exact data as to their introduction into this country. Captain Cook informs us that while he was in Queen Charlotte Sound in June, 1773, on his famous second voyage, “Captain Furneaux put on shore, in Cannibal Cove, a boar and two breeding-sows, so that we have reason to hope this country will, in time, be stocked with these animals, if they are not destroyed by the Natives before they become wild, for afterwards they will be in no danger.” Forster, in his journal, says, “They were turned into the woods to range at their own pleasure.” In the following year (October, 1774) he says, “We took the opportunity to visit the innermost recesses of West Bay, in order to be [Pg 17] [Pg 18] [Pg 19] convinced, if possible, whether there was any probability that the hogs brought thither about a year before would ever stock those wild woods with numerous breeds. We came to the spot where we had left them, but saw not the least vestiges of their having been on the beach, nor did it appear that any of the Natives had visited this remote place, from whence we had reason to hope that the animals had retreated into the thickest part of the woods.” Most probably this is what happened, and these first pigs were probably the progenitors of many thousands. On the 2nd November of the year 1773 Captain Cook gave a few pigs to some Natives who came off in their canoes near Cape Kidnappers. Thus pigs were first introduced into both the South and North Islands of New Zealand. I do not think there is much doubt that the wild pigs of the South Island—“Captain-Cookers,” as they came to be called—were the progeny of those originally set free at Cannibal Cove, though Cook himself recorded in 1777, “I could get no intelligence about the fate of those I had left in West Bay and in Cannibal Cove, when I was here in the course of my last voyage.” There is an earlier record of the introduction of pigs into the North Island, for in 1769 De Surville presented the chief of the Natives at Doubtless Bay with two little pigs, but there is no record as to what came of them. The next introduction was apparently on the occasion of the visit of Captain King, Governor of New South Wales, to the Bay of Islands in 1793, when he gave the Natives two boars and ten young sows. Dieffenbach, who was in New Zealand in 1839, but who is not a reliable authority on any matters relating to Maori stories or traditions, gives a different version of this gift. He says, “Captain King, at the end of last century, landed at the north end of the island, and gave the Natives three pigs, which, however, were mistaken by them for horses, they having some vague recollection of those which they had seen on board Captain Cook’s vessels. They forthwith rode two of them to death, and the third was killed for having entered a burying-ground. A very old man who had known Captain King related this singular story to me.” Dieffenbach’s credulity seems to have been played on as regards the horses, whatever approximation to truth there is in the other part of the story; it is most improbable that any horses were on board any of Cook’s ships. The pigs introduced into the country in the early days were evidently of more than one kind. Mr. R. Scott, formerly M.P. for Central Otago, tells me that the wild pigs formerly so abundant in this district were “originally a variety of the Tamworth breed—long-snouted, razor-backed, built for speed rather than for fattening, quick and agile in movement. The predominating colour was red or sandy red, with some black, and a few black-and-white, but these may have come from an occasional tame boar which strayed and became wild. At the time when they were most numerous in Otago they were decidedly gregarious, usually three or four generations running together in mobs numbering from half a dozen up to forty or even fifty. When attacked by dogs, if cover, such as flax, scrub, or high grass, was handy, they made for it, and would form a circle, with the older pigs on the outer ring and the younger ones in the centre, for greater protection. The boars, particularly the old ones, lived alone, and roamed far and wide. The habits of the wild pig were clean.” The late Mr. Robert Gillies wrote that “in 1848, the year of the settlement of Otago, wild pigs were very common on the site of Dunedin.” In 1854 he and a party killed seventy pigs at the back of Flagstaff Hill in two days. “The long, pointed snout, long legs, and nondescript colours of the true wild pigs showed them to be quite a different breed from the settlers’ imported pigs. Their flesh tasted quite different from pork, being more like venison than anything else.” The wild pigs of the North Island were a different race from the “Captain-Cookers,” and were probably the progeny of animals imported at a later date. Dieffenbach says (in 1835), “The New Zealand pigs are a peculiar breed, with short heads and legs, and compact bodies.” The increase of the wild pigs in pre-settlement days was very remarkable. Nearly every sealing and whaling vessel which visited these Islands between 1800 and 1830 took away quantities of pork as part of the cargo to Sydney. Dr. Monro, who accompanied Mr. Tuckett on his trip through Otago in 1844, speaking of the hill country south-west of Saddle Hill, says, “There is a famous cover for pigs, too, between the upper part of the Teiari [Taieri] Valley and the sea. The whalers come up the river in their boats and kill great numbers of pigs here.” After settlement commenced and people started to cultivate certain areas and to run sheep, wild pigs came to be looked upon as animals to be killed out. Drummond tells us that “they multiplied astonishingly, and enormous numbers assembled in uninhabited valleys far from the settlements. At Wangapeka Valley, in the Nelson Province, Dr. Hochstetter in 1860 saw several miles ploughed up by pigs. Their extermination was sometimes contracted for by experienced hunters, and he states that three men in twenty months, on an area of 250,000 acres, killed no fewer than twenty-five thousand pigs, and pledged themselves to kill fifteen thousand more.” At the present time wild pigs are still common in nearly all scrub or thin bush country which is not too near settlement, and to those who like the element of danger in their hunting they afford good sport. They are usually pursued by dogs, often specially trained for the purpose, which after a time succeed in bailing up their prey. The pigs prefer to take their stand in the hollow of a tree or some such locality, and an old boar will often do considerable damage to the dogs before he is despatched. The orthodox manner is to run in and stab him; but a man without a gun has little chance if he ventures to close quarters with a bailed-up boar. As to the food of the wild pigs, they root up the ground wherever the bracken fern (Pteris aquilina var. esculenta) is found, the starchy rhizomes furnishing abundant nutriment. They are also very fond of the thick rootstocks of spear- grasses (Aciphylla) and other umbelliferous plants, and have largely eaten out these plants over large areas. In the Chatham Islands they have been mainly responsible for exterminating the fine native forget-me-not, known as the Chatham Island lily. In the Auckland Islands they have destroyed great areas of Bulbinella and Pleurophyllum. [Pg 20] [Pg 21] CHAPTER IV. UNGULATA—DEER. Exclusive of horses and pigs, all the other ungulates which have been introduced into New Zealand and have become established here belong to the group of ruminants, or ruminating animals. They are so called because they “ruminate”— that is, after the food has been rapidly swallowed it is forced back up the gullet and more thoroughly masticated. Belonging to this group we have to deal with deer, oxen, goats, and sheep. These animals agree in the following zoological characters: They have all two digits or toes on the feet, which are therefore popularly known as “cloven.” They have no upper incisor teeth, and the canines in the upper jaw are frequently wanting. They are furnished with horns —a very special characteristic—sometimes only on the males, sometimes on both sexes. The stomach has four chambers. The first is the large paunch, or rumen, the organ which in cattle constitutes the well-known article of food termed “tripe.” This opens into a smaller bag, the reticulum, or honeycomb bag, so called on account of the network arrangement of the folds or ridges of the mucous membrane which lines it. The reticulum opens into the psalterium, or “many-plies,” a globular organ, the interior of which is filled with folds, or laminae, which are arranged like the leaves of a book, and very close together; hence both the technical and popular names. The fourth chamber is the abomasum, or reed, sometimes called the rennet-stomach. This is the stomach proper, in which the digestion of the food is carried on, and it is the part which when removed from calves is employed for the curdling of milk. Deer are distinguished from all other ruminants by the presence of antlers, which in all our introduced forms occur in the males only. These antlers are very interesting organs. In the commencement of the spring a pair of knobs is to be seen upon the forehead of the adult male animal. This is covered with a nearly smooth dark skin, and a scar can be detected in the middle of each, which is that left by the antler of the year before when it fell off. With advancing spring these knobs commence to grow, feel warm to the touch, and sprout out, as it were, round the scar. One branch takes a forward direction, whilst a second and larger one makes its way backward. These become in the fully-formed antler the brow-antler and the main beam. As long as the antler, which is composed of genuine bone of very dense texture, is increasing in size it is covered with the same warm, black skin as is the knob from which it sprang, and as this skin is covered with short, fine, close-set hair it has received the name of the “velvet.” It is this velvet which secretes the bony texture of the antler from its inner surface; therefore any mishap to it injures the growth of the antler in the part affected. The animals, therefore, during the time they are “in velvet” are more than usually careful to protect their heads, and are inoffensive even to strangers. When the antlers have ceased to grow, the velvet dries up, and the deer rub their horns against any neighbouring trees and force them into the soft earth until the membrane is quite rubbed off. Up to this time they have lived a kind of solitary existence, but now they go forth in their full vigour, seek out their future mates, and fight any other stags which dare to dispute their ascendancy. The desire to stock the mountain country of New Zealand with large game, so that the Briton’s delight in going out to kill something might be satisfied, has led to the introduction of no fewer than nine kinds of deer, in addition to other large animals. Of these, four species—fallow deer, red deer, sambur deer, and white-tailed deer—have established themselves in different parts of the country, and are included among the animals to shoot which licenses 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—namely, by residents in the neighbourhood of the districts where the game abound, and by mere pot-hunters. For the first class it may be said that many farmers, who take no special interest in acclimatization work or in so-called “sport,” who were not consulted in any way on the subject, and who probably object to seeing the undesirable game laws of the Old Country being reintroduced here for the sake of a few wealthy people who are willing to pay a price for the privilege of killing deer, naturally resent 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 little or no poaching, such as is characterized by the name in the Mother-country, done on the property of private individuals, and consequently destruction of game in New Zealand is not looked upon as a heinous offence, as were breaches of the iniquitous game laws of Britain in pre-war days. The game in New Zealand is the property either of the State or of the acclimatization societies, and public opinion on the subject of its 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, self-constituted, and select class. Still, a very fair measure of protection is ensured to the animals, and they have increased in many districts where they have been liberated. It has been recognized, 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 acclimatization societies. In addition to the four species already mentioned the following kinds of deer have been introduced into this country: — Sir George Grey liberated a pair of wapiti (Cervus canadensis) in Kawau some time in the “seventies.” The doe died, and the buck had to be killed, as he became dangerous. In 1905 the Tourist Department obtained eighteen of these fine deer, which were designated as “elk,” from America. Ten of these were a present from President Roosevelt to the Government. These animals were liberated at the head of Nancy Sound, on the south-west coast of the South [Pg 22] [Pg 23] [Pg 24] Island, and are now increasing in numbers. In 1885 the Otago Acclimatization Society received three Japanese deer (Cervus nika) from Mr. J. Bathgate, and they were liberated on the Otekaike Estate, near Oamaru. Five years later they were reported as “doing well and growing into a nice little herd.” In the report for 1892 it is stated that “little or nothing has been heard about these deer,” and nothing has been reported since. Apparently they have all been destroyed. In 1905 the Tourist Department obtained six of these deer, and liberated them on the Kaimanawa Ranges, near Taupo. I have heard nothing further about them. In 1905 the Government purchased five black-tailed (or mule) deer (Odocoileus hemionus) in America, and liberated them at Tarawera. In 1915 the Hawke’s Bay Society reported them as increasing. In 1870 the Auckland Acclimatization Society received three South American deer (probably Cariacus chilensis) from Mr. W. A. Hunt, but there is no further record of them. The first attempt to introduce moose, or true elk (Alches machlis), was made by the Government in 1900, when fourteen young ones were shipped on board the “Aorangi” at Vancouver. Owing, however, to the rough voyage, only four—two bulls and two cows, nine months old—arrived in New Zealand. They were liberated near Hokitika, but appear to have separated soon, as in 1903 one cow was in one district, another at the gorge of the Hokitika River, while nothing was known of the bulls. In 1913 the last-mentioned cow was “in splendid condition, and as tame as a kitten.” The others seem to have disappeared. In 1910 the Government obtained ten moose, and these were liberated on the shores of Dusky Sound. Two years later a mining party found traces of both old and young moose, and the latest reports show that the animals are increasing. In 1867 the Otago Society imported seven axis deer, or chital (Cervus axis), which were liberated in the Goodwood bush, near Palmerston. In 1871 another stag was landed and added to the herd, which at that time numbered about thirty. Ten years later the Inspector reported that he had seen over forty. Then complaints began to come in from the settlers round about that the deer were a nuisance, and their numbers gradually diminished. Gradually they were killed off, and none have been seen thereabouts for the last twenty years. In 1898 the Wellington Society received a pair of axis deer from the Zoological Society of Calcutta, and placed them on Kapiti Island, in Cook Strait. Four years later they had not increased, and I have not heard of them since. In 1907 the Tourist Department liberated five axis deer at Mount Tongariro, and in 1909 five in Dusky Sound. No reports have as yet been received regarding either of these latest experiments. CHAPTER V. UNGULATA—FALLOW, RED, AND SAMBUR DEER. Fallow Deer (Cervus dama). On account of its graceful form, beautiful colouring, and comparatively inoffensive manner, this is the favourite deer for parks and pleasure-grounds. The fallow deer has palmated antlers—that is, they end in a broad expansion, which is divided into several points, and has been compared to a hand with its fingers. These antlers are not developed at all in the fawn; in the second season they are simple snags; in the third the two front branches develop; in the fourth the extremity of the beam begins to assume the palmated form; while the fully developed antler occurs only in the sixth year. It is thus possible to tell the age of a buck by its antlers, and the following terms have been used to distinguish the stags: Fawn, pricket, sorrel, soare, buck of the first lead, and buck complete. The antlers are usually cast about November, but I have no information as to the dates in the different districts, and whether the milder climate of the North Island causes any earlier development. By the middle of February the new horns are almost free from their velvet, and in about five months the antlers are complete. The breeding (rutting) season begins about the middle of April, when the bucks are occasionally heard to utter a sort of grunting bark. This is the only kind of sound uttered by these animals. A single fawn is born each year, usually in the month of December. Fallow deer are gregarious animals, going about in herds, which consist of bucks by themselves, and of does and their fawns by themselves. These herds coalesce in February and March, and again—at least, in Britain—at the beginning of winter. Sir Harry Johnston suggests that this winter gathering into large herds is a relic of the days when they were forced to band together in large numbers to protect themselves from the attacks of wolves and other carnivorous beasts. It would be interesting to learn whether this habit of winter aggregation is kept up in New Zealand. Fallow deer are of two main types. The first, which is rather larger than the second, becomes a light reddish-grey or reddish-brown in summer, spotted more or less brightly with white; the legs and belly being cream-colour or pale buff. There is generally a black line right down the centre of the back from the shoulder to the end of the tail; the lower side of the tail and the rump under it are white. In late autumn the fur changes in colour, the spots disappear, and the fur on the upper part of the body becomes a dark uniform brown. The buck of this variety stands about 36 in. high at the [Pg 25] [Pg 26] [Pg 27] shoulder, sometimes a little more, while the does are somewhat less. In Britain there is a smaller type which is entirely without spots, and which is not nearly as handsome as the other. I do not know whether any of this type were introduced into New Zealand. Most probably those brought here came from park herds, and these are often very brightly coloured and spotted. It would be interesting to learn what types we have in the country. Fallow-deer venison is considered to be better and more juicy than that of the red deer. In my opinion, venison is not equal to mutton; but one has to bear in mind that when we eat venison we are usually eating the flesh of bucks, or male animals, while we do not eat the flesh of rams. If we did, and compared it with that of deer, we might find cause to reverse our judgment. It is interesting to note in old authors how greatly venison was esteemed, and it was mostly fallow-deer venison which is referred to. The first introduction of fallow deer into New Zealand was in 1864, when the Nelson Acclimatization Society received three from England. All the early records of the Nelson Society are lost, so we do not know what came of this experiment. Perhaps, however, these animals were the originals of an old-established herd which exists in that district. In 1867 the Otago Society introduced two deer, in 1869 twelve more, and in 1871 one. All these were liberated on the Blue Mountains, Tapanui, where they have increased to a vast extent, and now form one of the most important herds in the country. Licenses to shoot them have been issued for over twenty-five years. In 1871 the Canterbury Society had four fallow deer in their gardens, but there is no record now obtainable as to where they came from, nor definitely as to what was done with them. In later years, however, some were running on the Culverden Estate, and two more deer—obtained from Tasmania—were added to them. This herd did not increase, and apparently they have all been destroyed since. The Hon. S. Thorne George, who lived on Kawau from 1869 to 1884, told me that the first fallow deer in the colony were introduced there by his uncle, Sir George Grey, but he could not give the exact date of their introduction. However, in 1876 the Auckland Society received twenty-eight deer from London, and, of these, eighteen were liberated on the Maungakawa Range, Waikato, while ten were sent down to Wanganui. The former herd has increas...