“Yes, until they were found out and the war began against them they were terribly destructive. One man lost two hundred sheep out of three hundred, another lost nineteen out of twenty, and several others in the same proportion. Even now, although the number of parrots is diminished enormously, the flocks in the region where they abound lose at least two per cent. every year from that cause.”
“Is there any way of exterminating them by poison?”
“No way has been discovered as yet, as the birds are very cunning and cannot be readily induced to take poisoned food. They are more wary in this respect than rabbits and sparrows, as both of these creatures can be poisoned, though the danger is that in attempting to poison them the food is apt to be taken by domestic animals or fowls.”
“Speaking of poisoning reminds me of an instance in Queensland some years ago, where there was a large number of blacks inhabiting the forest near a sheep station.
“The owner of the station had been greatly annoyed by the blacks, who had killed many of his sheep, and in several instances had threatened the shepherds with death, and driven them from their places. He determined to get even with them, and this is the way he did it. He loaded a cart with provisions such as flour, sugar, bacon, tea, and other things, which were distributed to the shepherds once a week. Then the cart started apparently on its round. Near the place where the blacks were congregated one of the wheels of the cart came off, and at the same time the vehicle became stuck in a gully. The driver took his horses from the shafts and rode back to the station for help, leaving the cart and its load unguarded.
“Here was a fine opportunity for the blacks to exercise their thieving propensities, and they did not miss it. In less than an hour the cart was stripped of everything edible, flour, sugar, and everything else being carried away. When the driver returned, he found only the empty vehicle with which to continue his journey.
“That afternoon the blacks had a grand feast over the stolen property. All the members of the tribe came together and took part in the feast, about two hundred in all. It so happened that everything edible had been dosed with strychnine before the cart was loaded, and in a few hours all who had partaken of the feast were dead. Much as the white people around there had been annoyed by the blacks, there were few, if any, to approve of this wholesale poisoning which the sheep owner had undertaken entirely on his own responsibility.”
“I suppose it is due in some measure, at least, to performances of this sort that the blacks are diminishing in number,” Dr. Whitney remarked.
“No doubt that has a good deal to do with the matter,” was the reply. “I don’t know of any other instances than this of wholesale poisoning, but I do know that in a good many instances, black men have been shot down by whites for the reason that they had speared cattle or committed other depredations. The blacks have been treated very much the same way as your American Indians, and generally with as little provocation; but, beyond all this, it is well known that the number of births among them every year is considerably less than the number of deaths from natural causes. Some people believe that the blacks are addicted to infanticide, and that many of their children are put to death to save the expense of bringing them up. Understand me, nobody knows positively that this is the case, but only surmises it.”