300 THE ZOOLOGIST. 
From many sources we gather that the annual loss from the 
Kea to the sheep farmer on some runs where the bird is most 
destructive varies from three to five per cent. of the flock; this, 
for obvious reasons, is very unlikely to be over-estimated, but we 
can give instances where exceptional losses have been very heavy 
indeed. On one station on the Matatapu the owner resolved to 
begin cross-breeding ; with this view twenty Lincoln rams were 
purchased ; within a month nineteen of the number were killed 
by parrots. On another run, during the month of April, 310 
strong young wethers were got in off the back-country; as it was- 
late in the season the owner resolved not to shear them, but to 
put them on a good low-lying spur; in September they were 
looked at, and they were found lying in dozens with holes in their 
backs, untouched in every other part; of the original number, 105 
only remained alive. This gives an idea of the destruction that 
threatens double-fleeced sheep. 
On one outlying portion of a lake-run the birds were so 
destructive that, although there were 30,000 acres of good grass 
land, the occupiers decided not to place stock upon it ; the losses 
had been so great that it was found better to abandon the 
country. In the great snow-storm of the winter before last they 
were seen to eat the flesh of sheep; this is given as of rare 
occurrence, for, as said before, they seem to be inspired by mischief 
rather than urged by the pangs of hunger. It has been suggested 
that their numbers might be reduced by means of poisoned fat; 
those interested will doubtless be ready to make any experiment 
which holds out hope of saving their flocks from very considerable 
losses. At present the Kea shows a remarkable exception to the 
almost universal declension in numbers of most species of native 
birds. 
The following descriptions are taken from two specimens 
obtained on the banks of the Havelock :— 
Male.—Bill smooth, curved; upper mandible dark brown 
colour, lightest at the culmen, approaching to black near the base, 
the inside marked with slight longitudinal furrows; lower man- 
dible yellowish on the sides, furrowed on the inside; cere, covering 
the base of the upper mandible at its widest part, measuring five 
lines; nostrils raised or swollen; upper part of the plumage dull 
green, with a silvery shade; shafts of feathers dark brown; 
feathers tipped, sometimes margined, with dark brown; forehead 
