482 JOURNAL OF SCIENCE. 
birds in a nest on June 12th; of four young ones in a nest burrowed 
in the steep facing of a creck on the Mesopotamia Station, Rangitata 
district, Sept. 15th. Through the kindness of Mr. H. Campbell, I 
was able to give to “The Zoologist” a description of the egg; one of 
four taken from an almost inaccessible fastness of rocks, high up 
amongst the Wanaka ranges. Placed amongst a series of eggs of V. 
meridionalis (the kaka), it can be picked out at once; it is larger, 
rougher, the surface being granulate with pits dotted over, a very few 
slight chalky incrustations towards the smaller end. The shell is 
very stout and thick, exceeding in that respect any examples that I 
have seen of the eggs of the kaka. Itis pure white; of ovoid form, 
measuring one inch seven lines in length, with a breadth of an inch 
and three lines. I have a set of eggs, on which the kea was sitting, 
taken Noy. 13th last year; the nest was well screened by a rock about 
200 yards from the Rangitata river. These eggs are much smeother 
on the surface than the one previously described, one of them sub- 
shining, thin; these all closely resemble eggs of the kaka, but are 
slightly superior in size. Attention is invited to the early nesting of 
the species, in the month of June, the depth of winter, in such an 
inhospitable region as the Southern Alps, where at that time of year, 
so wide an area lics more or less snow-covered. This points to the 
change of its condition under its recent development asa bird of 
prey; in the flocks that are grazing over the mountain ranges, it finds 
an inexhaustible food supply on which it can support its offspring. 
It was in fact, whilst bringing down sheep to lower ground that the nest 
of young ones before-mentioned was found by a musterer. The report 
of the Government Inspector throws some light on the vast amount 
of damage inflicted on mountain flocks by this parrot; yet curiously 
enough there are certain strips of country which for some reason 
the kea does not frequent; or rather where up to a very recent period 
the flocks were undisturbed by its attacks. It has been officially 
stated that on a Lake Wanaka station 200 young sheep had been 
killed in one night, and that the destruction of sheep by keas was some- 
thing almost incredible, a loss of as high as 20 per cent. being in one 
or two cases attributible to this cause, on runs far back and at high 
altitude. In response to the offer of rewards for the destruction of 
these birds, the Inspector stated that 1,574 beaks had been delivered 
at his office. It may be added that when taken young they are 
readily tamed; they have been taught to imitate the human voice, 
making those sounds that many people call talking. A bird thus 
accomplished was to be found some time since near Mt. Pisa; another 
one lived for some time at a place near Cromwell. For years there 
was a wonderfully well tamed specimen at Mt. Peel, the pet and play- 
thing of the children. I should mention that the eges have been 
procured from the neighbourhood of Lake Tekapo in the McKenzie 
district; and from the Lake district of Otago. 
53. Nestor occidentalis, Buller. 
From Dr. Hector’s description this species seems nearer to the 
kea than to the kaka; there does not appear to be any information 
about its breeding habits. The writer has some parrot’s eggs that 
were obtained in the southern part of this island, which are peculiar 
from their coarse granulation and bluntness of form; they are also 
smaller than the average of those of the kaka. Further research may 
