78 THE KEA. 



etc." Unfortunately he 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. 



I fully believe that many of Mr. Potts's correspondents 

 were eye-witnesses of the Kea's depredations, but in finding 

 the truth we cannot take supposed facts to be authentic 

 evidence. 



In 1978 the Hon. D. Menzies, in a paper on the Kea, 

 wrote as if certain of the bird's guilt, but he gives no authority 

 for his statement. 



In a book entitled "The History of the Birds of New 

 Zealand, " Sir Walter Buller gives a fairly complete description 

 of the bird and its habits, and also an illustration of a Kea 

 attacking a sheep, but again one searches in vain for the name 

 of actual eye-witnesses. There is mention made of a shepherd 

 who saw a Kea attacking some sheep while he was driving 

 them, but no name was given ; and, as nothing is known of 

 the man, the evidence dwindles away to nothing. 



There is, however, a correct description of the method of 

 the Kea's attack (forwarded to Sir W. Buller by Mr. J. G. 

 Shrimpton), but its writer does not state that he ever saw 

 the bird killing or attacking flocks. 



In 1884 Reischeck wrote an article on 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. C. C. Huddlestone, in 1891, gave an account of his 

 experiences in Kea country, and strongly condemned the bird, 

 but he himself never saw the bird in the act of murdering. 



In 1894 Mr. Taylor White accused the bird of sheep 

 killing, but yet does not seem to have been an eye-witness. 

 He bases his conclusions on hearsay, for he says: — "One day 

 my brother John came home and said that he knew what 

 caused the holes in the backs of the sheep. It was done by 

 the Kea. This surprised me greatly, but I soon afterwards 

 had evidence of the fact myself, for when some of these 

 birds had once found out that blood of the sheep was good 

 for food, others were initiated into the performance." 



