The Nelson Evening Mail THURSDAY, JANUARY 4, 1872.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume VII, Issue 4, 4 January 1872, Page 2

The Nelson Evening Mail THURSDAY, JANUARY 4, 1872.

We have received a copy of the last report of the Otago Acclimatisation Society, from which it appears that the efforts made to iofcroduce and acclimatise English birds during the past year have been far more successful than in any previous years, the reason given for this improvement being that hitherto the birds have been distributed throughout the country in pairs, or at all "events iv very small numbers, so that in the case of one or two of them dying there was no chance of their increasing. However, on the arrival of the large shipment by the Warrior Queen, Mr. Bills, the gentleman in charge, was consulted, and recommended their being turned out at once in the neighborhood of Dunedin, as hy doin« so there would be the greater probability of the Society attaining the object it had Id view, uarnely, the stocking the country as soon as possible with valuable insectivorous birds. This was done, and the result has been that they have largely increased and are gradually spreading over the country. In Nelson this course has always been adopief?, and with marked success, as in no other province in New Zealand is there a larger ►v number of imported birds to he round. Constant- complaiuts havo been made •by subscribers in various parts of the country that they have not now and then received a lew of the little strangers to turn out on their farms, and *■- some few have withdrawn their names as iriembers on that account; but when they see that at Otago the mistake of so doing has been discovered, and that the Society ia that province has at last been compelled

to treat their importations in the same mariner that has always been dove here, they must admit the wisdom of tlie course pursued. The establishment of the. birds amoDgst us was thus made n certainty, aud their spreading over the whole country became merely a matter of time. In the pnrrfphlet before us the chairman of the Society is reported to have made some remarks upon the advisability of placing on record some more lasticg account of its proceedings than the mere anuual reports, some of which were already out of print, recommending that a list of tho animals, birds, fish, and seeds imported by the Society should be compiled aud placed in the New Zealand Institute. His reason for wishing to see this done was that in alt probability the introduction of stock suoh as had been brought into the country wouid iv the course of time have a great effect upon the indigenous flora and faun;., and that a record of the numbers and description of such stock would be useful iv guiding future scientific observation. The absence of records iv connection with the acclimatisation of imported animals, birds, trees, aud plains in older countries had led to great cuufusiou, aud was much regretted by scientific men, and it would be as well to avoid such confusion here while the work of compilation would be comparatively easy. The suggestion is one that it might be welt to act upon in this province. The secretary of ihe Nelson Society has, no doubt, a list of all the birds, animals, and fish imported during the last ten years, which, if carefully compiled, and lodged in the New Zealand Institute would at some future period form a valuable and interesting record of what had been done iv the cause of acclimatisation in Nelson.