284 Transactions. 



the Mount Algidus Station : "I saw a kea settle on a sheep 

 and begin to tear away at its back while I was within a few 

 chains. The sheep bolted downhill into a gully, and stood up 

 to its belly in the snow at the bottom, from 3 to 4 chains off. 

 It looked to me as if the kea then drove its beak deep into the 

 flesh ; the sheep gave a big jump and stood still. When I 

 went to examine the sheep it had a bad wound just over the 

 kidney, quite fresh in appearance." 



Mr. Hugh McKeuzie, of Etalvale Scation, Nightcaps, writes, 

 " In 1884, on Lome Peak Station, Wakatipu, in the month of 

 July, there came a heavy fall of snow. One morning early 

 myself and two other men went out to look up the sheep ; at 

 10 a.m. we sighted a mob. As we gob within about a quarter 

 •of a mile of them we could make out a number of keas flying 

 about the sheep, making a great noise screeching. We at once 

 hastened on to the sheep, which were stuck on a point of a spur 

 about 3,000 ft. in altitude. At a distance of 300 to 400 yards 

 we saw two sheep floundering in the snow with a kea perched 

 on the rump of each sheep and at work on the loins. These 

 sheep would be distant from the mob about 80 yards, and fully 

 20 yards from each other. As we sighted them, however, not- 

 withstanding our singing out and hurrying up to the sheep, 

 neither kea quit his position until we were within 20 yards of 

 them. They, however, did not damage these sheep enough 

 to cause death, as we came just in time." 



Mr. J. Morgan writes, " On Mesopotamia Station, in July, 

 1905, one afternoon at 2 p.m., the kea settled on the snow along- 

 side the sheep, and then hopped on to the sheep's back. The 

 kea then started to pull a tuft of wool out above the loins, and 

 then another, &c. Then it inserted its beak ; at this the sheep 

 ran into the mob, and the kea just flew off, and when the sheep 

 was quiet again it once more got on to its back and started to 

 use its beak again. At tliis the sheep plunged downhill into 

 the snow. The kea went through the same performance again. 

 All this occurred inside of five minutes. Of course we did not 

 let the kea kill the sheep." 



Mr. A. S. Smith, of Fairlie, writes, " The first occasion on 

 which I actually saw a sheep killed was one time while muster- 

 ing. I noticed two sheep that had been passed some little 

 distance, and while in the act of hunting a dog for the sheep a 

 kea flew down to the back of a sheep, which made hdadlong 

 down the hill with the bird all the while on its back. After 

 running some little distance the beast stumbled and fell. 

 Then the bird rose to its wings until the sheep got up and 

 continued its race downhill, evidently much terrified. The bird 

 then flew on to the sheep's back again while it ran. This oc- 



