FRIENDS OR FOES?

New Zealand Times, Volume XXVIII, Issue 5803, 22 January 1906, Page 2

FRIENDS OR FOES?

NIBV ZEAL IXD'S FEATHERED i.MM IGRANTS.

WAS THEIR INTRODUCTION A ill ST AK. Ilf

Xo VII. (By J. DRUMMOND.) iCopyriulu.) PHK.I'A.VI'.S AND QUAID. Tli>' cfjimmm plieiisrmt (Fhiisianits ' f**!*-hiruM urul ili“ riiig-iitn’k*'*! phi'u.- ;; ait '.Rh:-.. limits 1 m‘qu:iru-> Imvo had a •l.ranjf and ovontful history in thi* : ro’inLry. | At Inrt '-in.is acclimatisation ’.vas a | noiahlc and almost an unqualified »uoI i-evj*. Tiny :mecoid*d wherever they wore introduced, increasing very rapidly ami rearing healthy and hardy brxxxla of young. Uno of the first sue-ces-sen vr.ur achieved by Sir Frederick Wold m IStio, when ho estabiitdied the common pheasant in tVintcrhury. Other importations inio tnat province followed. the Acclimatisation Society bt inging out fairly large numbers. In 1808 it bred forty birds, and sold them to members for IT-’ a pair. In the tnscockcovercd land of C'-antorbury they thrived tipecially well, nn<i the large Cheviot rvitate. then Judd by the lion \\ . Hobinson, was soon slocked with them. Mr Robinson spared no expense in preparing for their reception when he urrang<d for a consignment, mrppliod, by tho society. He erected commodious aviaries, ordered that all tho cats on tho ost-ato should lie killed, nearly extirpated tho wekas, and had hawks destroyed at the rate of six a day. Tho toeioty continued to import pheasants for a considerable time. It bred about 100 birds in a year, and obtained a fairly good income by selling them to the owners of large estates. It seemed as if pheasants would, in a few years, spread throughout both islands and become thoroughly naturalised. After this had gone on for some time, tho birds received a decided citcck. Their numbers neither increased nor decreased. Then they began to decrease rapidly, and, apparently, almost simultaneously in many districts. Their complete failure, taking the colony as a whole, is now beyond doubt. In Canterbury and other provinces, where they wore once exceedingly plentiful, they -ire never soon at all. “ Onto plentiful, but decreasing, or disappeared," are the words generally written against them in the circulars. This result, which is very regrettable from the sportsman's point of view, is attributed to tho laying of poison for rabbits, to tbo depredations of stoats, weasels, and wild cats, to bush fine, and, in a lesser degree, to the pheasants’ food supplies being eaten by tho smaller introduced birds. It is (stated that the wekati as well as tho Bloats and weasels, oat pheasants' eggs. Tho j birds are decreasing as rapidly in dis- | triots where there is plenty of cover, j as in districts where there is little or I none. Tho destruction done by bush | fires is shown by the following utatement from a farmer at Mangahao, | Pahiatua. Wellington district: "When; sowing grass-seed after bush fires seven | years ago I came across thousands of , ncßta with the remains of eggs anti the ’ charred bones of Iho pheasants that had 1 been .sitting on them. They were : verv plentiful here onco, but now, j when one is sivn, half tho town am! j country is after it to shoot it.” | in large numbers of eases the do- j crca,-e has been almost simultaneous J with the arrival of stoats ami weasels . : ;eem to have set aliout the work t of extirpation without any nnnecesMary 1 del,iv, A rather striking remark is . nmd'e hv a farmer at JUmtuliri, who ; says that there are only a low pheasants in liis district now, and those that j ant there are “only old oock birds.” | The reports received chow that phea-santM now exist in numbers worth , counting in only tho North Island. Tho Poverty Bay district, on tho East Coast of Uie No* th Island, in tho only district in which they aro reported m ‘tin morons” ami they scorn to bo working towards the interior. In the few district** where they aro at all plentiful they are regarded by agriculturists as a thorough nuisance. A fanner at Parua Bay d-isribr-s them as “tho greatest clirw* settlers have to contend against.” At llokianga they arc “ruination to the farmer and tho gardener.” Tbev destroy young grass, pull up maize and eat it. ami attack potatoes, carrots, beans, pons, barky, wheat, and many kimls of fruit.

A strong testimony is giron against thorn by Air \V. H. Draper, of Waoreuga. ■who clashes them with both H«x-ies of introduced quail in tho followin'; condemnation;— “I am n largo grown l r of fruit, such n.s strawborrie-. grapes, peaches, plums, ami <;;> on. The ravages committed by t!;e pheasants anti quail are a serious matter for me. I cannot offer strawberries for s-.-lo with a piece pecked out of one side, nor dons it suit me to find the ground between the rows .sprinkled with half-ripe berries bitten oif. Tho birds perambulate a row of vines and completely destroy every gra'ie on a row five or six chains long. Wlu n. I sow field of clover tho sod is scratched and the seed eaten. If a stop is nor rut D> tho increase of He. " jv> s-. no man in bis sober shims will embark on fruit culture in country districts intVs.ed by them. My opinion is that it is little better than crimin’.! folly to keep a dree season for these birds. I have counted twentyfive pheasants on about one acre of potatoes on the lake side, and I hare put up nineteen cm my own place when traversing a distance of thirty chairs. I'p to about nine years ago, I supplies! strnwbcrric-s up to tho midc> The- berries come now. as before hut they are ail destroyed by the phe isants and tho quail, especially tho latter. In former years I have sold iu March, April, and May from ten

to fifteen hundredweight of strawbesrrica. Now they are all destroy***!. ■' Tiio two species of quail introduc'd, the srwamp fjtia.ll tSyn*cons au>-*.ra!t.-i and tho Californian quail <f'.*lll pep! a ealifornica) have been hardly more saccossfnl than the pheasants. They never increased so readily, however, and their fernii.n ■■• mil la still pl.-ntiful in soiu*; of the North Islam! district*-*, where, i.trini*r- write a-ednsi its name, "no go.)*!." At Te'Vuk.-, It the -Mak.-tu district. quail live largely on clover, raking both the xvd and '-tie young plants in the bu.-.h clearings, floats atid weasels, cats, poison, and hush fifes aro their mctniis. In regard to <’iilifoniuin fjuail . a farmer at Ngatliiiarn rays :—-"i have noticed that this bird wan.i.-yjairlv largo tract** of land, ft, is also h-tt'-V if ihe land is hilly, and broken with bush and scrub here ami there. It s eni r> get on very well on land uhete then* its plenty of iiu-h. (In other land it tin-* well ior a time, ami then its numbers are dfurea* *d, lor what- r.-ason I <Io not know. unLvs it is on account *>f the eats, which, I think, are largely to blame.” A farmer in the Motu district, in the Auckland province, says that; quail nrssi more protection, ami ho suggests that private ou-nc-s should proclaim tli**ir propsTt i*-s private an ct iiarics. and every third year should bo a close one.

THE TWO SWANS. There in a very striking contrast between the white swan and tho black swan_ in respect to their acclimatisation in New Zealand. The black swan is near the top of the list of successes, while tile white mrnu has increased slowly, and with obvious diiliculty, and hoe sometime*. qi.ite failed to establish itself. The black swan, in fact, lias shown much greater adaptability titan tbo other species, whoso f.rs-t attempts at incubation in Christchurch and other places wero utterly ineffective. Tlio black swan settled down at once to its new conditions. It was introduced into Canterbury partly with tin* object, of destroying watercress in l lie Avon, which runs through Christchurch. In a few years the birds bad increased largely, but in 1867 many of them forsook tho Avon and made long, and rather notable migrations to the wild country on the West Const and to Otago, and even Marlborough. Less than twenty were liberated on the Avon at first by tho Christchurch City Council. Those birds did tlie work desired from them, as they cleared a pathway through tho watercress for tho current. In 1880 there were hundreds of black swans on the Aron and Halswell rivers, ns well as tho Hoathcoto, as many as 500 sometimes being counted on small areas. They achieved tho samo success in Otago, where about sixty wero liberated from 1860 to 1870. Black swans aro how found in thousands on lako», estuaries, and lagoons in many parts of tbo colony, from tho extreme north to tho far south. They keep much to tho wild regions. In some places they wage a deadly war on the native ducks, taking their food supplies from them and persecuting them relentlessly. PUTITHRB, INTRODUCTIONS SUGGESTED. A rather striking aspect of the inquiries is that there is not tbo came consensus of opinion against the introduction of more English birds as there is against those wo have already. I nrthcr introductions aro suggested with quite as much confidence as characterised tho first introductions, forty years ago.

i Tho twenty-eighth question on the | circular wan: "Do you think that anv I other English birds could bo introduced ■ advantageously? if so, state tho spe- | CIOS you favour.” The replies show I only a few of tho correspondents ! a r°. opposed to further introductions, i several sound a warning that [ English birds are liable to change their | . ts ou . to a new land and living under now conditions. | It is very clear that sentiment must [ still to rockontxl with. This h shown i tho f;urt . that many more votes have bron cast in favour of robin redbreast than in favour of any other bird that can bo thought of. Ho heads the' list of suggested importations of the future. Jenny Wren is not very far down in tho list, and this may ho taken as further evidence that sentiment m regard to tho birds of the Old Country is not dead, ft is expected, 1 ton-over, that robin redbreast will bo lustful as well as ornamental. Tho swallow corats nest to the robin, then novoral kinds of martins, then the p overs the swift and tho wagtail, in that order. Tho cuckoo is a general favourite. Other birds mimed are the Hlonechat, shrike, snipe, more lapW.ugs and hedgesparrow*, flycatcher. “V> u tnwiso, white-throat, nightingale (winch, by the way, Ims only one ioto), "atei-ottselu, storks, American - catcher and kingbird, goatsucker, grouse, black cock, partridge (French ami English), jackdaw, nightjar, woodpcc.tor, whiuchat, wheatoar, pipit, wry neck, crow, and butcher-bird. 1 supply this list for what it in worth ft ,9 IX,or to Cive tome indication of the feeling on the subject. Ho advisability of introducing any of tie birds named is a matter that should bo gone |nto with great car© whon definite stops in regard to further imftortationfi are contemplated, and it could hardly be discussed satisfactorily hero. The facts brought, to light in respect, to acclimatisation in New Zeal ami are .sufficiently striking to lie a warning against thoughtless action in the future. It might ho advisable to forbid the importation of any more foreign birds without the sanction of a committee of experts, which could bo appointed. CONCLUSION. The inquiry ha* not put an end to the controversy, which is one” of those things that will continue as long as small birds and/ far-more exist. Tho lines of demarcation are too faint, and too hard to define, to enable it to be said with any certainty that the introduction of small b eds into this colonswas a mistake. The question rests largely upon speculative opinion, and absolute settlement need never be looked for.

A great deal of tho evidence I have collected is confusing, and a little of it is obviously the outcome of prejudice and bitter enmity. There is. however, lews of this than I expected. For the most part, tho conclusions arrived at by the hundreds of correspondents who have returned the circulars are baaed upon actual observations extending over thirty or forty yearn. Many of those who scent to (ho trouble of filling in the circulars are in the advantageous position of haring known tho small bird* both at Heme and in the colonies, and they are in a good position to make? comparisons, and note change’s that h ive taken place in Hi. bed- - habiis. In some cast's considerable trouble lias been taken, tho circulars being accompanied by long letters. By the adoption of this system of seeking information men have boon

reached who would never have imparted their knowledge in any other way. So v era I of the correspondents have been enough to commend the t-yistcm. They have their to supply more detailed information, if desired, and they that the system should he extended to other suh- [ j. crs that imen-s*t the agriculturist. | The evidence* has been weighed carefully. and in forming conclusions I have oruUnvou; vd To hr jusi to men and I birds alike. The summary of tho results. at any rate, is impartial, and I think I can claim that on tho prominent points of the controversy a consenfms of expert opinion tliroughout the colony is now placed at the disposal of all who wish to have it. I have to thank Mr T. \ST. Kirk, Government ILolojjisfc, for his kindness in seeing that the circulars wero distributed, and in having the replies sent to mo.