THE MUSEUM. 



41 



found that kidiiej' fat was most tasty. 

 From dressed animals it went to dead 

 ones on the hillside. It had now found 

 out that kidney fat was in sheep and 

 the easiest way to get at it was from 

 the small of the back. From dead to 

 dying and then to healthy sheep were 

 but steps and a plan of concerted at- 

 tack was devised. Singling out a vic- 

 tim from the flock a kea would light 

 upon its back and dig and scratch, 

 pulling out claws full of wool and hold- 

 ing to the thick ffeece with its power- 

 ful feet. The other keas would fly 

 around the poor animal keeping it 

 moving until unable to rid itself of its 

 tormentors and exhausted with its ef- 

 forts to escape them sank down and 

 allowed the exultant birds to work 

 their will upon its living body. 



The being nocturnal made the pro- 

 fection of the flock a difficult matter 

 and many "runs" had to be abandon- 

 ed od account of the ravages of these 

 now frightfully numerous pests. 

 Whole flocks were decimated in one 

 night. At last the government put a 

 large bounty upon their heads and 

 soon the kea will be a thing of the 

 past. 



The manner in which these birds 

 followed up each successive stage 

 shows something very much akin to 

 reasoning; first skins, then dressed 

 carcasses, then dead and lastly living 

 sheep — and more than that devised a 

 way of hunting in concert and slaying 

 an auimal fifty times their size. This 

 was not instinct. There were no ani- 

 mals they could have preyed upon be- 

 fore the advent of sheep. It shows a 

 wonderful adaptability to changes of 

 circumsfances and would prove of in- 

 calculable benefit to science if we could 

 observe the bird further. If, instead 

 of preying upon the sheep it had turn- 

 ed its attention to the rat, that since 

 its introduction had increased so alarm- 

 ingly, how valuable it would have been 

 and how many vexed questions of evo- 

 lution it might aid in solving for us. 

 P. K. Tavernier, 

 Beaumans, Ont. 



Can the Big Snakes Charm? 



Much has been written about the 

 fascinating power of snakes; some af- 

 firming, others denying that the 

 snakes in question are capable of 

 charming small animals, birds, etc. 



The following incident came under 

 my personal observation, while camp- 

 ing a party of friends at Fish Lake, 

 Wis. , a small but beautiful sheet of 

 water abounding with water-fowl 

 and fish, especially Pickerel {Esox 

 Major). One day while trolling for 

 pickerel, and having exhausted our 

 supply of frogs, we rowed to a small 

 island, about one hundred yards from 

 the shore to search for bait. One of 

 the party in advance of the others, 

 while in pursuit of a large bull-frog, 

 suddenly stopped and gave a short cry 

 of alarm, which owing to the peculiar 

 terror expressed in the cry, instantly 

 attracted our attention. We called to 

 him but he appeared to be intently 

 looking at some object in the grass im- 

 mediately before him — receiving no re- 

 ply to our repeated calls, we ran to 

 his assistance. There directly before 

 him, its head raised above the rank 

 marsh grass, its eyes fastened upon 

 his, was a huge snake. We urged him 

 to run — he seemed to hear but was 

 powerless to obey. Realizing that 

 harm would happen I made strike at 

 the snake, which on seeing me com- 

 ing, slowly sank to the ground, and 

 glided away toward the center of the 

 island, the waving of the grass show- 

 ing its course. 



Seeing that pursuit would be useless 

 we turned our attention to our com- 

 panion, who stood trembling from 

 head to foot and looking in the direc- 

 tion the snake had gone. He was 

 greatly terrified, his face was of an 

 ashen gray. Many days after this in- 

 cident he said that the vision of that 

 vicious head and those terrible eyes 

 would come over him like the recol- 

 lection of some horrible dream. 



We searched the island and burnt 



