CHAPTER XI.
THE DAMAGE DONE.
Ay! In this realm of seeming rest
What sights you meet and sounds of dread!
It is no wonder that in the early days people came to look upon the Kea as a terrible menace to the sheep-farming industry of New Zealand, for some of the stories told and published about its depredations are enough to stop any sheep farmer from settling in the country.
Not only did the man on the sheep station put down most of the annual loss among the flocks to the unfortunate bird, but several standard books published such exaggerated and false stories that one can only wonder how they were ever credited.
Unfortunately, these idle tales are still believed, and are quoted in other parts of the world against the Kea.
Here are some of the worst.
The late Mr. Potts, in his book “Out in the Open,” says:—“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.”
The late Sir W. Buller, in his “History of New Zealand Birds,” says:—“In some parts of the country the Kea menace has risen to such a pitch that the run-holders have been fairly driven off the country.”
He also publishes the following newspaper report:—“Mr. D. A. Cameron, one of our oldest run-holders in the Lake Country, Otago, is throwing up his run at the Nokomai,
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