ACCLIMATISATION NOTES.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 4170, 30 June 1875, Page 3

ACCLIMATISATION NOTES.

Hares and pheasants are now plentiful in the Waipori Ranges. Black swans are now to be seen in considerable numbers on the Waih.ola.Lake. A traveller through the Taieri Plain last week met with several flocks of yellowhammers. Starlings are now very numerous about the Taieri, and their presence is thoroughly appreciated by the farmers. In the Deep Stream and Lee Stream trcut of ;i Jarge size are observed, and it is likely that these rivers will be opened for fishin" during the coming season. ° Mr S. Dwlgleiah has presented the Acclimatisation Society with a dozen brace of Californian quail, and the birds have been liberated on the Peninsula, near the property of Mr W. J. M. Larnach, who not lon<* a"o turned out a number of quail in the'same locality. Mr W. Gordon Rich, formerly of Wairuna, Otago, writes from Tollbridge to Land aud Water, giving an extract from a letter wntt( n by an Otago friend relative to trout fishing in the Water of Leith and Shag River. We learn that it is the intention of the Acclimatisation Society to recommend that the trout fishing season should open much earlier this year. The last season consisted of the months of December, January, and February ; this year, fishing will probably begin in September or October. Mr Kenneth Cameron, of Shjg Valley, reports that a white swan has made its appear auce on one of the la»oons in that distiif.t. It is very tame, and is probably one of th • birds which for some years have been kept by Mr Francis Fulton on his property at Kakanui. In replying, through the Firld, to the numerous inquiries thnt have been made to him concerning the success of the attempt to acclimatise British salmonklae in Australia and New Zealand, Mr J. A. Youl gives extracts from several colonial newspapers, including this journal, on the subject. Mr S[,eiuer ll.ird, t'ommi.-siont-r of Fisheries for the United States, wrote to Mr P. F. Stoddart, of Hampden, while in Scotland, to say that he is '-engaged in hatching the ('alif(.rn:an salmon on a laige scale for introduction into the waters of the Eastern States, and expects to receive 6,000,000 eggs before the season is over. This is a specie s eminently suited to Australian and New Zealand wates s, and the eggs can easily be obtained in large numbers." The Provincial Government have agreed to sanction the taking of hares until the end of September over the Bushy Park Estate, Shag Valley, belonging to Mr F. D. Rich. We understand, however, that Mr Rich will take advantage of this privilege only to the extent of allowing coursing. The hares on the property are very plentiful, and no doubt a large area will be opened in the district next year over which hares may be taken. The trout in the various streams have begun to spawn. Mr Deans, the Acclimatisation Society's Manager, proceeds to the isnag Kiver this week, to procure a supply of egss for the Society. We hear of two fine hsh having been tuken from the Water of Leith on different days last week. Such conduct is very reprehensible. During spawning season trout are very easily taken, and are unfit for eating. Yet there is every reason to believe that in one case a fine fish of 5,1b. was taken, with the knowledge of a, well-known resident near the Water of Leith who knows the state of the law, and was eaten at his dinner table. The Acclimatisation Society obtained last week frem Auckland six hen and four cock pheasants, and the whole number has been sent to Queenstawn for liberation in the Lake District. The birds were taken up by Mr H. Mandcrs, M.P.C., by way of Invercargill aud Kingst n, and a letter sent by that gentleman while m route from Invercargill conveyed the inf.=rmati»n that the pheasants were thriving, and that there was every probability of. their reaching their destination in saiey. This is the first lot of these birds which lins in-en sent to the Lakes by the Society, and, owing to the suitability of that district for all kinds of game, there can

be little doubt that the pheasants will soon multiply. Under^the head of " Deer Stalking in New Zealand," the Australian correspondent of the Field has the following :—" Our friends down south, in the cold, damp, Province of Otago, N.Z., have been singularly successful in acclimatising the great red deer from Tasmanian fastnesses. A correspondent, writing to me fromDunedin, the capital of Obago, grows quite enthusiastic, if not eloquent, over what he is pleased to term ' really good sport deer stalking amongst our mountains. 1 The sport is described as being genuine, and largely indulged in." With regard to the foregoing, we have only to remark that no red deer were ever introduced into Otago from Tasmania, and that no animal of that sort was ever to our knowledge killed within the Province either by way of sport or otherwise. We trust that the following, which is from the same correspondent, is a more reliable piece of infoi nation : —"Three years since a gentleman travelling up" country from Ballarat was induced to take charge of •a soda-water bottle filled with perch ova. The bottle he placed in a weedy lagoon oh the estate of a squatter named Simpson. The greatest success attended the simple experiment. The fish hatched out, and were unmolested until a month or two ago, when some of the station hands had their atten teution drawn to the movements in the water made by what they supposed to be eels. Fishing having been resorted to, a capture of some splendid perch was effected, and, to the surprise of the anglers, and those who were cognisant of the stocking of the water, the fish caught represented in one or two instances a weight of five pounds and upwards each."