^"'o^^'l From Magazines, Src. ^45 



northern parts of the State when driven from their usual haunts 

 by drought. The Stubble Quail, so keenly sought by sportsmen 

 and Quail-slaughterers, is just starting breeding now, and as they 

 rear three or four broods in a season it is at once apparent that 

 to commence killing the old birds on ist February means that 

 only half the complement of ycmng will be reared. The Quail 

 suffer from two afflictions — the impatient pot-hunter, who wants 

 to get to work before the sportsman thinks of doing so, and the 

 Quail-slayer, who delights to brag of the thousands of birds he 

 has killed in a season. On ist March of this year three out of 

 the first four birds my dogs found had broods of chicks 

 following them. I called on the farmer who had invited me to 

 shoot, and told him that I would come again a month later, as 

 by killing a few brace then I was wasting the lives of all the 

 little ones. Many sportsmen were in hopes that after the 

 experience of two seasons, during which the birds enjoyed 

 extended protection,, no further attempt would be made to 

 tamper with the Game Act \ but in response to an appeal from 

 some of these same gentry Mr. Cameron made an alteration some- 

 what on the lines now proposed, with the result that parcels of 

 little chicks were sent to the officers administering the Act to show 

 the folly of the change. Mr. Bent tried to meet their wishes, but 

 after a few days' trial had the good sense to cancel his alteration 

 of date. I would suggest that the Stawell society alter its name 

 to that of the ' Game Extermination Society,' and that its 

 members advocate the abolition of the Game Act altogether, and 

 then they could get some nice bags directly the hay was cut for 

 a season or two, and in a few years Quail-shooting would 

 become a matter of ancient history." 



Is THE Kea Carnivorous ? — The Kea {Nestor notabilis) or 

 Mountain-Parrot is found only in the middle island of New 

 Zealand, where it lives among the peaks and valleys of the 

 Southern Alps. 



When discovered by Mr. Wm. Mantell, in 1856, the Kea's chief 

 food seemed to consist of insect larvae and berries. However, as 

 early as 1868 it was suspected not only of eating meat, but of 

 becoming a bird of prey of no mean order. Rumours were heard 

 to the effect that the bird attacked and killed sheep for the sake 

 of the kidney and the kidney fat, which formed its special 

 delicacies. 



The first recorded instance, which was published in the Otago 

 Daily Times, runs as follows : — 



'• For the last three years the sheep belonging to a settler, Mr. 

 Henry Campbell, in the Wanaka district (Otago), appeared to 

 have been afflicted with a new kind of disease. The first 

 appearance of this supposed disease is a patch of raw flesh on 



