Marrineb. — On the Natural History of the Kea. 303 



yhere it was first found, but in 1905, from records received, 

 t^ey were still plentiful there. 



There is also a certain amount of evidence which seems 

 to indicate that the sheep-killing habit has spread and is still 

 spreading since it was first started about 1868. The first 

 record was from Lake Wanaka, and from there it seems to 

 have spread south to Lake Wakatipu and north to the x\muri 

 district. About 1880 the birds' depredations were recorded 

 from the lakes in the south of Canterbury, and by 1886, after 

 passing north through Peel Forest and the Ashburton Gorge, it 

 was recorded from Lake Coleridge and the stations around 

 Mount Torlesse. 



Since writing the above I have received a letter from Mr. 

 D. Macfarlane, who says, " Li 1866-67 I was in charge of the 

 Lochinvar Station, at the head-waters of the Waimakariri. and 

 during shearing I noticed many sheep with deep wounds in the 

 loins, and the shepherds told me it was done by keas, and that 

 many sheep were killed by the birds." If this report is true, 

 then the killing of sheep began in Canterbury about the same 

 time that it did in Otago, and therefore there would be two 

 cejitres from which the habit would spread. Since then the 

 habit has extended to the stations in the Amuri district, and 

 in 1906 a meeting of runholders was held to try and abate the 

 nuisance. 



So far I have no records of sheep-killing in Marlborough 

 and North Nelson, though the keas are to be found there. 



In Westland the habit has spread west, for in 1906 Mr. 

 Condon, Bruce Bay, South Westland, had some sheep killed 

 at Mahitahi for the first time. 



The Ke.a's Extinction. 



.As early as 1888, Sir W. Buller says that he is certain that 

 these interesting birds would soon be extinct, but in spite of 

 the thousands that have been killed they are still common 

 in the mountainous countr} of the South Island. No doubt 

 the almost inaccessible position of their nests, as well as tlie 

 rough nature of the country in which they live, are responsible 

 for their non-extinction. However, closer settlement of the 

 land and the systematic slaughter that is now going on must 

 in time extermiiiate the mountain-parrot, and, like many other 

 interesting forms of our avifauna, it will disappear for ever 

 before the march of civilisation. 



I would suggest that in order to ])revent these interesting 

 birds from becoming cjuite extinct a number of them should 

 be placed on one of the outlying islands, where they could live 



