Page:The Kea, a New Zealand problem (1909).pdf/137

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KEA HUNTING.
133

carnage. The Selwyn County Council has paid out, since 1887, £262 9s. 6d.

The Ashburton County Council since 1891 has paid out £24 16s. 6d., while the Amuri County Council received 531 heads in one season. Mr. Rolleston, from a small run of his in Ashburton County, received 800 heads in one season; and the Lake County Council up to 1884, had paid for 2000 beaks.

Another office received 1574 heads; while, since 1889, the McKenzie County Council has paid out £193 6s. 6d. for 3866 Keas.

Keas' heads threaded on a string.

Keas’ heads: As they are received at the County Council Offices.

The price paid per head by the different Councils depends a good deal on the amount of damage done, though usually 2s. 6d. is the price; to-day several men do not consider 10s. per head too high a price.

Mr. E. B. Milton, of Birch Hill Station, Canterbury, in a letter to me on the payment for Keas’ heads, says:—“I have