Story: Introduced land birds

The sparrow pest

The sparrow pest

House sparrows were introduced to New Zealand in 1866. But by 1878, only 12 years later, the Otago Witness was reporting a meeting in Kaiapoi to deal with the sparrow pest. By then sparrows were having a serious effect on grain crops and farmers, as this account suggests, were resorting to radical measures.

Using this item

National Library of New Zealand, Papers Past
Reference: Otago Witness, 22 June 1878, p. 3

Permission of the National Library of New Zealand, Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa, must be obtained before any re-use of this image.

All images & media in this story

How to cite this page:

Christina Troup, 'Introduced land birds - House sparrows', Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, http://www.TeAra.govt.nz/en/ephemera/17176/the-sparrow-pest (accessed 20 April 2024)

Story by Christina Troup, published 24 Nov 2008, reviewed & revised 17 Feb 2015