THE SHEEP KILLER. 91 



meanwhile holding on and balancing itself with outstretched 

 wings. Very soon the sheep strikes a rock or stumbles and 

 rolls over and over down the hill, only to get on its feet 

 again and repeat the performance time after time. When 

 the beast stumbles the Kea rises on its wings, and settles 

 down again on the sheep when it has regained its feet. 



This awful race is continued until, bruised by its 

 numerous falls, utterly exhausted by its death struggles and 

 maddened with pain, the terrified animal stumbles to rise no 

 more, and becomes an easy prey to the Kea. 



Several men have witnessed these awful rushes, and have 

 also come upon the murderer gorging himself on the live 

 sheep, tearing at the kidney fat and pulling at the entrails. 



The following are a few instances illustrating this 

 method of attack. 



Mr. J. Sutherland writes: — "In 1887 I was keeping a 

 boundary where Keas were numerous, and on several occasions 

 I saw them attack sheep. I saw a sheep running down the 

 hill with a Kea hanging on. I followed after it, and found 

 the sheep lying in the gully with the Kea tearing away at 

 it. I drove it off. The sheep was not dead, but the wool 

 and the skin were torn, and a hole was made in the sheep's 

 back, just above the kidney, a wound from which it would 

 have died ; however, I killed it to put it out of pain." 



Mr. H. E. Cameron gives the following account: — "One 

 day while mustering in the summer time of 1895, I saw a 

 Kea on a sheep's back clinging to the wool and digging his 

 beak into its back, and a number of others flying about. I 

 went down to the sheep with some other men. Some 

 entrails had been pulled through a hole in its back and we 

 had to kill the sheep. I was camped at the foot of Davies' 

 Saddle (Longslip Station) one foggy day, and at three o'clock 

 heard a great screaming of Keas ; so I went out to see 

 what they were at. On going down the creek a short 

 distance I saw a sheep coming down the face of the hill as 

 fast as it could, with a Kea on its hips and twelve more 

 birds following and screaming. The sheep, when it got to 

 the foot of the hill, ran under a bank and went down on its 



