KEA HUNTING. 



127 



daylight. The best time, however, is either in the evening or the 

 morning", when they are going to their feeding grounds or leaving 

 them. They mostly go in pairs in the breeding season ; 

 then, when the young are able to fly about, they travel for 

 a while in families, and afterwards towards the winter they 

 club together. I once counted over thirty in a mob, but alas, 

 through having been among the rabbits, my amimunition had 

 almost run out, and 1 only got nine out of them. The Kea is. 



KEA CUUNTHY : Author's Camp. 



I am confident, the most inquisitive bird alive. One may be 

 just visible as a speck in the sky, but if it has no important 

 engagement on hand a whistle will often bring it down to you 

 at once. It was my habit when shooting Keas to pick off the 

 outsiders or timid ones first, if there were more than two, — I 

 always took two at a time. At the report from the gun the 

 others would give a nervous start, erect the few feathers that 



