Maeriner. — 0/^ t]ie Natural History of the Kea. 273 



retiring President of the Canterbury Philosophical Institute, 

 while reading a paper " On some Little-known Country in the 

 Waimakariri District," made the following statement : " I 

 have never seen it [the kea] attack sheep, nor have I ever met 

 with any one — shepherd, miisterer, or mountaineer traveller — 

 who has done so ; the most that my inquiries have elicited 

 is that sheep are found from time to time with holes in their 

 backs, and that keas have been seen hovering around sheep." 

 A very warm discussion followed, and from that time people 

 have been looking into the evidence. The result has been that 

 there are more people who disbelieve the kea's guilt to-day 

 than there were ten years ago. Dr. Cockayne and his sup- 

 porters do not state that the kea is innocent, but that at the 

 present time the recorded evidence is not strong enough to 

 condemn the bird. 



Let us glance through the most conclusive recorded evi- 

 dence, and see on what grounds the bird's guilt has been de- 

 clared proved. The late Mr. T. H. Potts (N) condemns the 

 kea from what appears to be hearsay evidence only. He 

 writes, " Through the kind offices of Mr. Robt, Wilkin the 

 writer has been greatly assisted with valuable notes, acquired 

 by sheep-farmers, owners of stations, shepherds, &c." Un- 

 fortunately, Mr. Potts does not state that any of his informants 

 ever saw a kea at work, or whether the notes were merely the 

 sheep-station rumours, of which a bookful could be collected 

 to-day. Again, he does not seem to have seen the bird attack- 

 ing sheep, but as his guarantee mentions the names of several 

 men, but there is nothing to show that even these men were 

 eye-witnesses. 



In 1878 the Hon. D. Menzies (Q), writing a paper on the 

 kea, is certain of the kea's guilt, but he also does not give his 

 authority, which, however, is evidently some shepherds. 



Sir Walter Buller (J, a, b, c; R) gives a complete descrip- 

 tion of the bird, and also an illustration of a kea attacking a 

 sheep, but again no eye-witness is mentioned, with the excep- 

 tion of a shepherd, who said that a kea attacked some sheep 

 while he was driving them. There is no name given, and so 

 we do not know who the man was or anything about him. 



In 1884 Reischek (T, a) wrote an article giving his actual 

 experience with the kea, but though he saw them eating the 

 carcases, and also found wool and fat in their crops, he never 

 saw one attack a sheep. 



Mr. F. F. C. Huddlestone (M), in 1891, wrote an account 

 of his experience in kea country, and condemned the bird, but 

 in his account he never states that he saw the sheep attacked 

 by one. 



