134 THE KEA. 



paid ten shillings per head since 1900, and in my experience the 

 damage done to the sheep has not been serious since a 

 substantial reward was instituted. The payment of a high price 

 for heads is the best means of keeping shepherds and others, 

 engaged in the hill country, continually on the war path. 

 Four of my neighbours now pay ten shillings each for heads." 



Up to 1906 the Government paid 6d. per head, but this 

 has been raised to Is. ; and, as the station owners usually 

 pay Is. 6d., the men receive altogether 2s. 6d. per head. 



When the birds are shot either the upper mandible is 

 pulled off and kept in a match box until the station is 

 reached, or else the head is screwed off and, when 

 brought in to the homestead, threaded on a string or wire. 



It is quite a common sight on the back stations to see 

 a number of old decaying heads hanging on a nail in some 

 little-used shed. Here they usually remain until a stock 

 inspector visits the place or some one pays a visit to the 

 nearest town. It naturally follows that the heads become 

 so decayed that the offensive odour given out from them 

 makes it almost impossible to count them out. 



One County Council clerk promised to send me down a 

 large supply of heads for scientific purposes, but they smelt 

 so badly that he knew the railway authorities would refuse 

 to carry them, and so he buried the heads to get rid of them. 



