They All Ran Wild. The Animals and Plants That Plague Australia. [ Newly Annotated & Illustrated Edition.]

Sydney: Angus & Robertson, 1984. HEAVY. xix, 546pp, index, bibliography, bw ills. Or brown cloth in jacket. Ex-school library with assorted stamps etc (inc cancelled stamp), some foxing. Jacket is excellent. A newly annotated and illustrated edition of Eric Rolls' classic on introduced species and the plagues they have caused. Some of the early settlers lamented the fact that "Australia had no animal fit for a gentleman to hunt" so as well as the livestock they needed for survival, some of which escaped domesticity and ran wild in extraordinary numbers, the new settlers brought rabbits, hares, foxes, trout, carp, sparrows, starlings, and many others for different reasons. The nature of the land was changed forever. Excellently written and rich in historical and scientific detail. The rabbit had such a profound and long-lasting effect that the first section is given over entirely to its introduction, profusion and attempts at its eradication. The second part deals with other pests including Acclimatization and Acclimatization Societies [Wild Mammals; Blackberries and Birds; Domestic Animals and Fish]; Hares and Coursing; Foxes and Foxhunters; From Rats to Donkeys; Dingoes; and Kangaroos:Pests or Valuable Producer? Kangaroos are included because the changes wrought by the settlers unbalanced the environment to allow their numbers to increase to plague proportions, a fact little understood by many conservationists today. . First Thus. Hard Cover. Good/Very Good. Sml 4to. Ex-Library.