128 



THE KEA. 



do duty for a top-knot and look at me as much as to say ' What 

 the dickens was that noise ? ' You may go for days without 

 seeing a single bird, for Kea hunting is rather a lottery, 

 but I would keep going where they had been seen at the 

 sheep, and I was bound to get them in the long run. The 

 Kea-hunter's life is not all 'beer and skittles,' still, with all 

 the hardships through getting caught in fog or snow on the 

 tops, and so forth, there is something fascinating about it. 



KEA COUNTRY : In pursuit of the Kea in winter. 



When once you have got a taste of the free life, fresh air. 

 and sunshine of a kind which is only found amongst the 

 mountains, you can never forget it, and at times the longing 

 to climb once again is almost irresistible." 



As Kea hunting is taken up by men all over the Kea 

 country, and each man has to find out the most successful 

 method of killing the birds, there were and are many 

 different ways employed. The commonest method is by 

 shooting them with a shot gun, and as the birds are 

 extremely tame and inquisitive it is not usually very difficult 

 to get near them once they are in view. 



