Benham. — On the Flesh-eating Propenhitij oj the Kea. 75 



The kea, which had still held on, was joined by several others, 

 and they soon destroyed [? devoured]* the sheep." 



Again, Mr. Cameron writes, " When ' snow-raking ' — that 

 is, taking sheep from high country — ^keas would gather round 

 the sheep in great numbers, attack one or more quite close to 

 us shepherds. A sheep would get frightened, run out of the 

 flock with one or half a dozen [!] keas on its back, kill or wound 

 it severely before they would let go." 



The majority of my correspondents give a similar account 

 of the facts, and several of them — -Messrs. Bell, Cameron, King, 

 McGregor, McKenzie — state that . they have often seen keas 

 on the sheep's back ; and most of them give details as to occa- 

 sions on which they have shot the birds while at work. 



It must be borne in mind that some of my informants are 

 and always have been managers, and so are less likely to have 

 had the opportunity of witnessing the attacks than the shep- 

 herds ; and, further, as Mr. Ford states, the attacks are fre- 

 <juentlv, if not usually, made during the night, and therefore, 

 unless specially watched, their attacks are rarely witnessed. 

 Nevertheless, all the men to whom I \\Tote have actually seen 

 the bird at work. My correspondents are all, I believe, trust- 

 worthy witnesses, and I see no reason to doubt the truth and 

 accuracy of their statements. 



Area op Country affected. 



The kea is confined to the South Island, and occurs only 

 in the high mountainous parts — i.e., along the Southern Alps 

 and other high ranges. But it is not throughout this country 

 that the kea has been a nuisance to sheepowners. In travelling 

 through Marlborough or in North Canterbury my inquiries 

 met with a negative reply — indeed, some of the men to whom 

 I put the question scoffed at the idea of the bird doing serious 

 damage to sheep. From further inquiries, however, I find that 

 it has been known for some years that along the eastern flanks 

 of the Alps in Mackenzie country, Canterbury down to Earns- 

 law, near Lake Wakatipu in Otago, various sheep-stations 

 have suffered loss from the attacks of the bird. Thus, I have 

 records from Mount Cook Station and Ben Ohau Station, in 

 the first-named district ; while the Wanaka, Hawea, and Waka- 

 tipu districts yield abundant evidence of the existence of car- 

 nivorous keas. And one of my correspondents (Mr. King) 

 gives the Takitimo Mountains as the southern limit. Further, 

 during the present year the farmers of Amuri County, in North 



* Throughout this article words or phrases in .square hraekets are 

 interpretations or paraphrases of mine. 



