276 Transactions. — Zoology. 



John came home and said that he now knew what caused the 

 holes in the back of the sheep : it was done by the kea. This 

 surprised me greatly, but I soon afterwards had evidence of 

 the fact myself, for when some of these birds had once found 

 out that the blood of the sheep was good for food others were 

 soon initiated into the performance. It was seen that the 

 sheep (merinoes) with the longest woof were those which chiefly 

 suffered, from which I concluded that the length of wool gave 

 the bird better facilities for holding on with his feet during 

 the time occupied in drilling a hole into the unfortunate sheep, 

 which would at first run madly about with the bird fixed to 

 its back. Those sheep which were penned in by a recent fall 

 of snow would be an easy prey. 



A person living in this district brought some fifteen hundred 

 crossbred cheviot and merino, and wintered them on these 

 hills, but the extra length of wool on these sheep caused them 

 to be specially attacked by the kea, and on mustering in the 

 spring very few of this flock were found alive. Mr. W. M. 

 Hodgkins, of Dunedin, obtained for me two brace of old- 

 fashioned horse-pistols, which we would take with us when 

 shepherding, loading with shot, and so peppering the keas ; 

 for to carry a gun was a heavy load when climbing about. 

 The birds soon found out that we were enemies, and, in place 

 of a friendly interview, were mostly seen flying about, scream- 

 ing, far away on the opposite range. It became quite a rare 

 thing to get within shooting-distance of these treacherous 

 birds, and all our friendly interest in them was turned to 

 murderous thoughts. I do not think they went specially for 

 the kidney-fat of the sheep, or had any particular choice, but 

 that that point was chiefly selected owing to the bird having 

 a better hold when in that position. They would nest in the 

 crevices of the rocks, but I never was able to take either eggs 

 or young birds, the fissures being too deep and narrow to 

 admit of approach. 



Mr. Wallace asks me, did the kea mistake the live sheep for 

 the vegetable sheep— a peculiar growth of lichen ? I would say 

 not, for I have never to my knowledge seen a vegetable sheep, 

 or mistaken such for a living one, as the story goes. There- 

 fore my particular keas were not likely to see this vegetable 

 substance either ; and I never knew the bird to be seen feeding 

 on a dead sheep. The sheep always died after the repast, and 

 were then left to the wekas (Ocydromus australis) and buzzard 

 hawks, who would finish the work of destruction. 



About the time at which we found out that the kea 

 molested the sheep, we read in the papers that the shepherds 

 on the Wanaka Station, some thirty or forty miles in a 

 northerly direction from our position, had also discovered the 

 same fact, and this made the authorities of the Dunedin 



