126 THE KEA. 



and butter, a t' chunk' of t' brownie,' and tea and sugar, for 

 you always take the ' billy ' with you. Cartridges and a light 

 single-barrelled gun slung over the shoulder finish your 

 equipment. You put out the fire, unloose a dog, see that 

 the others are all right, and give them a parting word and 

 pat, grip your stick, on which your life may depend in 

 ticklish places, and ofi" you go for a two or three hours' climb 

 to the top, just as dawn is beginning to show in the east 

 and there is still hardly light to enable you to pick your 

 way among the boulders and fallen timber. The reason you 

 always take a dog with you in Kea hunting is that if you 

 should have the ill-luck to break your neck the dog in time 

 will, owing to hunger, find his way back to the homestead, 

 and thus give silent notice that something has happened to 

 his. master. Then the search parties go out. Nip, my 

 favourite spaniel, could spot a Kea on the v/ing long before 

 I could. When the birds are flying far overhead they will 

 call out 'keo-o,' with the last 'o' long drawn out. When 

 Nip heard this characteristic note, up would go his head, 

 and he would almost stand on his hind legs. To see him 

 hunt for that Kea in the sky was laughable indeed. I could 

 tell when he found the bird by his intense gaze, and by the 

 beating of his stumpy tail on the ground. Then I would 

 whistle to the Kea, and unsling my gun, telling Nip to watch 

 the Kea as it circled round and dived down. The old dog has 

 fallen backwards many a time, so intent was he on keeping the 

 Kea in sight. Down would come the bird, well within gun-shot 

 — I have had to walk away so that I should not blow one to 

 pieces. When one is paid for killing the birds and five 

 shillings depend on the shot, you do not give the bird a 

 sporting chance by firing at it on the wing. In hunting the 

 Kea you must be up on the mountain top about daylight, to 

 catch the birds going home after their night's carouse. The 

 Kea, however, will be out feeding and courting all day and 

 all night as well. I have killed them at all hours, from 

 the first streak of dawn to the last faint glimmer of 



tPiece JA kind of curraut loaf. 



