72 Transactions. 



experience of a few persons living in Otago at the time the 

 attacks were first noticed. 



Tkese letters were in answer to a series of questions which 

 I put to my correspondents, and these answers entirely support 

 the generally accepted opinion that in certain parts of the 

 South Island certain keas have acquired the habit of attacking 

 sheep and of devouring their flesh. These letters, in short, 

 merely confirm the statements contained in Buller's " Birds of 

 New Zealand," which were founded on the statement of men 

 living in the same localities as some of these same folk to whom 

 I have written. A good account of the matter has alreadv 

 been given by Mr. Huddlestone in 1891(6). 



The history of the matter is, briefly, as follows : — 



In or about the year 1867 it was observed that on certain 

 sheep-runs in Otago, in the neighbourhood of Lake Wanaka, 

 sheep were wounded in a rather mysterious manner. It was 

 noticed in the case of sheep killed for food that a healed wound 

 occurred sometimes in the loin or sides ; when shearing, too, 

 similar healed and even open wounds were found in or about 

 the region of the loins ; also, when mustering, sheep were seen 

 with more or less pronounced wounds, raw^ and bleeding, and 

 even with entrails hanging out of large holes in the side of the 

 abdomen. 



It was on Mr. Henry Campbell's station at Lake Wanaka 

 that the first efforts seem to have been made to trace the origin 

 of these injuries, but similar facts had been noticed on other 

 stations. Mr. Campbell gave instructions to his shepherds to 

 keep a good look-out for the animal that caused the wounds :* 

 so poisoned mutton-fat was laid out in suitable and likely places, 

 and men were set to watch. It was found that keas were 

 attracted and devoured the mutton more or less greedily, and 

 were poisoned thereby ; and the suspicion that they were the 

 enemy was soon turned to certainty by the observation of 

 Mr. James MacDonald, at that time (1868) head shepherd, and 

 now a sheep-farmer at Dipton in Southland. f He saw a kea 



* It was by some supposed to be a disease. It has even been suggested 

 that the damage atti-ibuted to the kea has, in part at least, been caused 

 Ijy gtdls (Lams dominicanus). These birds are known to peck at the eye;* 

 of lambs, but I am not aware whether they have ever been detected eating 

 sheep or attacking them while ahve. 



t Ml-. John Campbell writes that he believes he was the first to detect 

 the true cause — he states that this was in 1870 ; but as MacDonald had 

 already reported the occurrence in 1868, there seems either a confusion 

 of dates or Mr. Campbell's memory has jilayed him false as to his being the 

 discoverer, for he states, " The kea was not suspected of attacking sheep 

 in any way in 1868, and not for two years afterwards." But MacDonald's 

 name is referred to by two or three of my corres])ondents as being the first 

 to discover the cause of the wounds. 



