NOTES AND QUERIES. 



899 



Nordmann's Pratincole in Yorkshire. — A specimen of Nordmann's 

 Pratincole (Glareola melanoptera) was shot at Eeedholme, near Danby 

 Wiske, on i\ugust 17th. It was flying with a flock of Green Plover 

 at the time. — R. Fortune (5, Grosvenor Terrace, East Parade, 

 Harrogate). 



Machetes pugnax in Co. Mayo. — It may interest some readers of 

 • The Zoologist ' to know that a Reeve was shot by Mr. H. Knox, of 

 Greenwood Park, on August 30th last near Daleybann Lough, Bella- 

 corick, Co. Mayo. This is only the fourth specimen that I know of 

 shot in this western district, all being solitary birds shot during the 

 autumn migration. — Robert Warren (Moy View, Ballina). 



NOTICES OF NEW BOOKS. 



The Kea: a New Zealand Problem. By George K. Marriner, 

 F.R.M.S. Williams & Norgate. 



Apart from the ornithological point of view little can be said 

 in favour of this bird ; to the sheep-farmers it is too frequently 

 a cause of heavy loss, to the sheep themselves it is a cruel and 

 fatal vivisector. It has, however, been said — and Dr. Wallace 

 in his 'Darwinism ' largely popularised the idea — that the bird 

 actually burrows into the living sheep, eating its way down to 

 the kidney, which forms its special delicacy, an erroneous 

 statement and unnecessary, for the Kea's record is black enough 

 without this suggestion. 



Mr. Marriner has written an excellent and exhaustive life- 

 history of this destructive bird, and clearly proves, apart from 

 the kidney myth, that if extermination at the hands of the 

 sheep-farmers eventually ensues it will have earned its fate, 

 though it is probable that it will survive in greatly diminished 

 number rather than be added to the list of extinct birds. It 

 inhabits the alpine regions of New Zealand, where the severity 

 of the winter is especially felt, and " builds its nest, lays its 

 eggs, hatches and rears it3 young, all during the severest months 

 of the winter." It appears that all Keas do not kill or even 



