DESCRIPTION. 31 



with the birds, the beak and general form are good 

 indications ; the female is a more slightly built bird, and the 

 beak is neither so stout nor so powerful. There may be 

 some confusion when young birds are encountered, but these 

 can always be identified by the quantity of yellow colouring 

 in the mandibles. 



Even the young male bird usually has a more heavily 

 built beak than the adult female. 



Like other members of the genus Nvstor, individuals vary 

 much in the brilliancy of their tints, and sometimes the 

 variation is so marked as to give them an albino or a yellow 

 appearance. Professor F. W. Haslam, of Christchurch, 

 informed me that he saw in one of the Otago homesteads a 

 stuffed Kea that was more or less an albino. 



Sir W. Buller gives the following instance of variation 

 in a specimen procured for him from the interior of Otago : — 

 "Bright canary yellow, with a few red feathers 

 interspersed throughout the plumage ; vivid red on the 

 rump and upper tail coverts, as well as under the 

 wings. Such a gorgeous bird has never been seen in 

 the district before." 



In the supplement of his "New Zealand Birds" he 

 says: — "About seventeen years ago a beautiful yellow 

 Kea was obtained in the Wanaka Country in the far 

 south. At the time there was a Government bonus of 

 two shillings per head for Keas, as the bird had been 

 proving very destructive to the sheep. Every man on 

 the station, as a rule, carried with him a fowling piece 

 on his rounds and came home at night with a bagful of 

 beaks, thus adding not inconsiderably to his weekly wages. 

 Thousands of pounds were paid in the course of the year 

 by way of bonuses in the Wanaka district alone. The last 

 payment made by my informant was £500 in one lump 

 sum. It can be gathered by this what the destruction 

 of Keas was at that time. In consequence of this 

 persistent slaughter they rapidly grew scarcer, till at 

 length there were so few to be seen that the men at 

 work on the round would not encumber themselves with 



