EARLY RECORDS. 73 



Suspicion fell at once on the Black-back Gull fLarus 

 dominicauKsJ, and the Harrier Hawk (Circus (JoHhli), but 

 it was soon pointed out that it was only the sheep of the 

 alpine countiy that were attacked, while the gulls and hawks 

 scoured the plains as well as the mountains. 



It was a well-known fact that the gulls would pick at the 

 eyes of a very young lamb, or even of a sheep, when it had 

 fallen, but they had never been known to attack the sheep 

 over the loin, in the manner of the unknown culprit. 



Wild dogs were next suggested, but they were then 

 practically unknown, and the fact that there were never any 

 injuries found on the sheep, except those on the loin went to 

 prove that the sheep could not have been pulled down and 

 worried by dogs. 



About this time the suggestiftn that the Kea might be 

 the culprit was strengthened by the fact that the bird had 

 been seen picking the refuse around the meat gallows. 



Some poisoned mutton was spread out in a likely place, 

 and soon the Keas were observed to come down and devour it 

 so greedily that in a short time their dead bodies were lying 

 around their unfinished meal. 



This experiment gave the clue as to the direction in 

 which investigation must be made in order to solve the 

 mystery ; and at once Mr. Campbell (of Lake Wanaka Station) 

 ordered his men to keep a sharp look-out when working in 

 high country. Not long after this, these suspicions were 

 substantiated by the observations of Mr. James McDonald, at 

 that time head shepherd at Lake Wanaka Station, and now a 

 sheep-farmer at Dipton, Southland. Through the kindness of 

 Professor Benham, of Dunedin, I am able to give Mr. McDonald's 

 own description of the first recorded case of sheep killing by 

 Keas. He thus described what he saw : — 



"I do not know whether I was the first to see the Kea 

 attack sheep, but I was the first to report it to Mr. Henry 



Campbell, of Wanaka Station In 1868 my orders 



were to go all over the run after the snowfall and see that 

 the sheep were evenly distributed over the ground, that no 

 hill or spur had more sheep on it than it could well carry. 



