78 Tnmsactions. 



It will be remembered that Wallace states that the bird 

 showed a marked preference ior the " kidneys,'' and it is very 

 popularly supposed that it makes a special effort to obtain 

 these organs; but, as the majority of my correspondents point 

 out, this is an error. It is a mere accident that the bird, in 

 certain cases, makes its first attack in the region- of the kidney, 

 for it is on the rump that the bird finds it most convenient 

 and safest to settle, and naturally pecks at one side or the 

 other of the backbone, working through to the underlying 

 kidney. But, as a matter of fact, the bird will commence the 

 attack at that part of the sheep which is most prominent : 

 if a sheep be lying on its side in a gully or elsewhere the kea 

 commences at the side of the abdomen. 

 • The eclecticism of the kea is in that exaggerated, as has 

 already been pointed out years ago by Huddlestone and by 

 Taylor White ; but such a legend dies very hard indeed. 



The Method of Attack. 



The method of attack is varied. It may be {a) on the moving 

 sheep ; [h) on a fallen sheep ; (c) on a snowed-up sheep. 



Perhaps the best account of the first method is that con- 

 tained in Mr. R. McKenzie's letter : " I have seen a kea at- 

 tack and hang on to a living sheep. The bird flew on to a sheep's 

 back, and commenced driving its beak through the wool into 

 the flesh— not necessarily just over the kidney, as is supposed to 

 be the custom. The frenzied sheep jumped and ran about in any 

 direction for dear life, then, separating itself from the mob, 

 made a direct line down a steep slope, and in its mad career 

 finally dropped over a precipice, until which moment the bird 

 held on with its claws, its wings slightly extended as if to steady 

 itself or to be ready to fly off at any moment. The instant 

 the victim left terra firma the bird relaxed its hold, but was 

 observed to fly almost straight down as if bent on securing 

 the sheep. Both were then lost to view." 



Similar statements occur in other letters (Bell, Cameron, 

 McGregor), and have been made to me by shepherds and others 

 orally. 



(6.) A sheep will sometimes, in coming down hill, roll over 

 and perhaps lodge in a gully or elsewhere, and be unable to 

 rise. The kea wnll then attack. I quote from a letter to the 

 Otago Witness, November 22, 1905, waitten by Mr. J. A. Wraytt, 

 of Garston : " When travelling along the bridle-track down 

 the east side of Lake Wanaka I saw a sheep some 50 yards 

 below, kneeling dowm with its head poked under a shelf of rock. 

 There' was a kea on its back, and about half a dozen sitting 



