POLICEMEN OF THE AIR 43 



raising industry made it possible for it to eke out 

 an existence on the scraps of offal. 



Later these blood-thirsty parrots became so bold 

 as to attack and kill sheep. The manner in which 

 they do this is revolting in the extreme, and for 

 many years scientists in other parts of the world 

 refused to believe the wild tales of their terrible 

 crimes. They hunt in great numbers, like hungry 

 wolves, and pounce upon any luckless sheep that 

 strays from the herdsman's care. Lighting upon 

 its back, they quickly tear away wool, hide, and 

 flesh in search of the tender part about the kidneys. 

 This they despatch with gluttonous haste as the 

 poor animal falls and dies. Then they leave the 

 carcass untouched to seek another victim and again 

 regale themselves upon its living vitals. 



No bird of prey by nature carnivorous is so 

 deadly and so wasteful as these degenerate grain- 

 eaters. At times they seem to seek some new and 

 terrible mode of destroying the sheep ; for instance, 

 some of them live during certain seasons entirely 

 upon the tongues and eyes of young lambs, which 

 they ruthlessly pluck out of the living animal. It 

 is not uncommon to see these helpless creatures 

 tongueless and eyeless from the fiendish attacks of 

 the feathered hyenas. So bad have these bird- 

 terrors become that some sheep-runs have had to be 



