WEASELS, STOATS, ETC.

Forest and Bird, Issue 9, 1 June 1925, Page 8

WEASELS, STOATS, ETC.

In respect of extermination leading immediately to extinction, the present condition of the New Zealand fauna is one that must grieve to the utmost every ornithologist who cares for more than the stuffed skin of a bird on a shelf. In the fauna of that region the class aves holds the highest rank, and though its mightiest members had passed away before the settlement of white men, what was left of its avifauna had features of interest unsurpassed by any

others, it was indeed long before those features were appreciated, and then by but few ornithologists, yet no sooner was their value recognised than it was found that nearly all of their possessors were rapidly expiring, and the destruction of the original avifauna of this important colony, so thriving and intellectual, is being attended by circumstances of extraordinary atrocity. Under the evil influence of what was some thirty years ago called “acclimatisation,” not only were all sorts of birds introduced, which, being of strong species speedily established themselves with the usual effect on the weak aboriginals, but, in an evil day, rabbits were liberated. These, as was anticipated by zoologists, soon became numerous beyond measure and devoured the pasture destined for the sheep, on which so much of the prosperity of the country depended. Allowing for a considerable amount of exaggeration on the part of the sheepowners, no one can doubt that the rabbit plague has inflicted a serious loss on the colony. Yet a remedy may be worse than a disease, and the so-called remedy applied in this case has been of a kind that every true naturalist knew to be most foolish, namely, the importation from England and elsewhere and liberation of divers carnivorons mammals—polecats, ferrets, stoats and weasels! Two wrongs do not make a right even at the Antipodes, and from the most authentic reports it seems, as any zoologist of common sense would have expected, that the blood-thirsty beasts make no greater impression upon the stock of rabbits in New Zealand than they do in the Mother country, while they find an easy prey in the heedless and harmless members of the aboriginal fauna, many of them incapable of flight, so that their days are assuredly numbered. Were these indigenous forms of an ordinary kind, their extirpation might be regarded with some degree of indifference; but unfortunately many of them are of extraordinary forms—the relics of perhaps the oldest fauna now living. Opportunities for learning the lesson they taught have been but scant, and they are vanishing before our eyes ere that lesson can be learnt. Assuredly the scientific naturalist of another generation, especially if he be of New Zealand birth, will brand with infamy the short-sighted folly, begotten of greed, which will have deprived him of interpreting some of the great secrets of nature, while utterly failing to put an end to the nuisance—admittedly a great one.—From Alfred Newton’s Dictionary of Birds, 1896.

AMATEUR ACCLIMATISING.

Mr. John G. Myers, F.E.S., B.Sc., R.A.0.U., late of New

Zealand Agricultural Department, writing from America, remarks:—

At the big Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard they have the customary belief held very strongly that all the indigenous birds of New Zealand are doomed, and that all attempts should be made to collect more while there is yet time. It is extraordinary how strong this feeling is. Personally, I think we shall yet be in time to conserve practically all the species that now remain.

With the growth of sanctuaries in New Zealand I should like to see a warning issued against the introduction of one race of species into the habitat of another—as has happened for instance in the case of the wekas on Kapiti, which are apparently all hybrids. This is a most deplorable thing. I have seen several cases. For instance, there was a quail on the island of Cuba, found nowhere else in the world. Actuated by some ridiculous idea of “improvement,” the habitants introduced quail of a related form from Florida. The result is that it is now impossible to find a single pure native quail—all are hybrids, with the imported blood dominating. In New Zealand, while possibly all of our bird species have been described, the distribution of the geographical and other races into which they are divided has never yet been worked out. In some other countries well-meaning introductions, even of the apparent species from one part of its range to another have rendered this impossible. In New Zealand there is yet time and no irreparable damage of this kind has yet been, done and it must be remembered that we want to protect species and not mongrels.

As an example of how much there is still to be learned from the birds of New Zealand and about them I might mention a paper by Lowe published some years ago but apparently overlooked in New Zealand. It is on the rather dry subject of the skeleton of the Chatham Island Snipe (the same remarks apply to the other species or races found on the snares and other subantarctic islands). We had always supposed this a rather queer snipe, both from its feeble flight and more or less nocturnal habits; but I think no one realised its full importance until Lowe studied the skeleton. The snipe family contains as its most typical members two groups of the snipes and the woodcocks. But the Chathams snipe is neither a snipe nor a woodcock, but an extremely primitive form probably very closely allied to the ancestors from which both these more modern groups

arose. It is in fact a living fossil in the truest sense of the term.

NEW ZEALAND NATIVE BIRD PROTECTION SOCIETY.

The Annual General Meeting of this Society was held on Friday, the Bth May, at the Dominion Farmers’ Institute Buildings. Mr. J. P. Firth, C.M.G., presided. The Secretary read the following report dealing with the Society’s past activities in its endeavours to fully interest the pnblic in the welfare of our native birds. Several thousand bulletins are now being issued quarterly. The Society has now many earnest helpers distributed throughout the land and with the united efforts of all it can fairly be estimated that well over a hundred thousand articles on bird matter are being printed annually. Some twenty thousand posters have been distributed throughout the Dominion and the Society feels particularly the good effects produced by the postal authorities facilitating the exhibition of a poster in each Post Office. The results so far achieved would have been impossible had not many patriots come forward with donations from £IOO downwards, and had great aid not been tendered by many throughout the Dominion. As a result of the work, a changed view is evidenced by the large and ever increasing membership. Increasing enquiries are being received from schools, and many valuable minor results have come about as the outcome of our solicitations and suggestions. There is, of course, a long row to hoe yet, but the outlook is very hopeful. Nevertheless, the scope of the work requires much extending, and no doubt the incoming officers will take steps to increase the literary output and inaugurate more illustrated lectures. The Press generally throughout, New Zealand has. given the movement cordial assistance, and a part of this Press has voluntarily offered more. Whenever support has been asked, the vitally important and national nature of the work has been fully realised, and assistance tendered. The following officers were elected:— President—Hon. Sir Thos. MacKenzie, G.C.M.G. VicePresidents—Sir George Fenwick, J. P. Firth, Esq., C.M.G., H. Guthrie-Smith, Esq., James Drummond, Esq., and Gilbert Archey, Esq., M.A.

r A committee of five was appointed to attend to the ■usual detail and business matters. _ Mr. Douglas McLean suggested all Acclimatisation Societies be written to with reference to the destruction done by stoats and weasels. The meeting, however, considered that these societies were fully alive to the question and needed no exhorting. The meeting concluded with a hearty vote of thanks to the Chairman and commendation to the Hon. Secretary, the Society’s various local representatives, and many other helpers for the manner in which the movement has so far been furthered.