92 



THE KEA, 



knees, the Kea picking away at its back and the others 

 watching- as if waiting for a feed. I went up to the sheep, 

 after throwing stones at the birds. When I got up to the 

 sheep, it had two holes in its back, and the kidney fat had been 

 eaten, but the kidneys were lying bare in the sheep. The 

 entrails were pulled out through the hole in the back. The 

 sheep was not dead, but had to be killed." 



A SHEEP KILLED BY KEAS. A four-toothed Merino Ewe found 

 ON Lake Coleridge Station. 



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

 on which I actually saw a sheep killed was one time while 

 mustering. 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 headlong 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, and the 

 sheep continued its race down hill, evidently much terrified. 

 The bird then flew on to the sheep's back again while it ran. 

 This occurred, I should say. three or four times, before the 



