90 THE KEA. 



back to the camp, but no doubt it did directly the sheep 

 went over the rocks. At any rate, less than twenty minutes 

 afterwards I again saw a Kea in the correct position on a 

 sheep's back, viciously striking, and I distinctly saw it lift 

 its head and give one strong peck, when the sheep 

 immediately collapsed and fell down among the other sheep. 

 I think the Kea then left it. I waited for some time, and 

 then went out as quickly as I could. The mob drew out 

 of the camp, but the injured sheep was still sprawling about. 

 I tried to make it stand, but it could not. I came back 

 next day and found it lying in the same place, but black and 

 very much swollen. I cut its throat, and left my gun in 

 my hiding place during the day and came back at night. I 

 got six of the fifteen Keas that night and the others during 

 the next three weeks. There was never a sheep killed on 

 this camp after the night I saw the sheep struck down." 



The case of a sheep jumping over a precipice in its terror 

 is not an altogether uncommon occurrence, as can be seen by 

 the number of marked sheep found dead at the foot of the 

 precipices. 



Writing on this subject, one of my correspondents says : — 

 "I write to say that I have seen the Kea at work at a sheep. 

 The latter was driven frantic by the bird's attack, and ran 

 wildly in any and every direction, eventually making a bee-line 

 down a steep slope, as if blind, took a ' header ' over a 

 precipice more than a hundred feet 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 

 finna, when the bird relaxed its hold, and 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." 



Sometimes the sheep tears round the flock until it is played 

 out and cowed, when it sinks to the ground and lies with its 

 neck stretched out, a picture of misery. 



At other times the terrified sheep, as if making a 

 last despairing attempt to get rid of its enemy, rushes 

 madly forward in one direction, usually down hill, at a 

 terrific speed, quite oblivious of rocks and pitfalls, the Kea 



