282 2'7-afisactions. 



often end even more tragically : the sheep in its blind rush often 

 comes to a precipice, and, with the same mad impulse that 

 brought it so far, it leaps over the edge and is dashed to pieces 

 on the ground below. In this case the kea leaves go its hold 

 as soon as the sheep begins to fall, but follows the unfortunate 

 animal in the descent, to satisfy its hunger on the result of its 

 labours. Some writers think that many inexperienced keas kill 

 sheep in this way, even though they may not have intended to. 



I will now give some typical accounts from men who have 

 seen the bird at work : — 



Mr. Don. Finlayson, late of Glenthorne Station, Canterbury, 

 writes, " In December, 1898, in company with Walter Grieve 

 (now manager for Mr. F. W. Cordy, Hororata), when walking 

 along the edge of Lake Coleridge, at the foot of Mount Oakden 

 (on the Acheron Run), we saw a kea rise suddenly about a 

 chain ahead of us. We walked to the place and found a sheep 

 lying with a hole torn in its back. The sheep was so severely 

 injured that we had to kill it. When mustering in the same 

 year on Totara Hill, up the Wilberforce River, I was walk- 

 ing quietly along, and coming to the edge of a slight depression 

 in the ground, there right at my feet a kea rose from the body 

 of a sheep. I examined the sheep. It was a merino wether, 

 perfectly sound, but had been so severely injured by the kea 

 (a hole had been torn in the sheep's loin, the kidneys were pro- 

 truding, and some of the fat had been eaten) that I had to kill 

 it." 



Mr. Charles W. Symonds, Christchurch, writing of his ex- 

 periences while living on the border-line of Canterbury and 

 Otago, says, " While mustering, I have on many occasions 

 actually seen the kea on the sheep's back (loin), and generally 

 three or four keas would be flying round the sheep, which 

 would be running at the tail of the mob. The sheep would run 

 until it was thoroughly exhausted and had to lie down from 

 exhaustion and fright." 



Mr. R. McKenzie, Blackmount Station, writes, " Seeing 

 your request re the kaa in the local paper, I write to say that 

 I have seen the kea at work on the sheep's back. The latter 

 was driven frantic by the bird's attack, ran wildly in any and 

 every direction, eventually making a bee - line down a steep 

 slope, and, as if blind, took a ' header ' over a precipice, more 

 than 100 ft. high, and was dashed to pieces on the rocky and 

 shingly bottom. The kea hung on to its prey until the moment 

 the unfortunate animal left terra fir ma, when the bird relaxed 

 its hold, but flew down almost on the very track of its prey, 

 when it was lost to view by the writer and a shepherd who was 

 there also." 



