KEA HUNTING. 129 



Several devices are employed to entice the birds within 

 range, and one which is very successful is the using of a 

 decoy. A tame Kea is chained to a rock, and his noisy, 

 excited cries soon attract other Keas that are in the vicinity. 

 As these appear they are shot by the Kea-hunter, who is 

 hidden behind a rock. 



An extension of this device is to get two Keas in 

 separate cages and to place them so that they cannot see one 

 another, yet near enough to hear each other's cries. This 

 causes them to make a great fuss in trying to attract each 

 other, and is generally successful in bringing down a lot of 

 their wild mates. 



One man I knew used to take a square yard of scarlet 

 cloth, which he carefully spread out over a rock, placing 

 stones on it to prevent the wind from carrying it away. 

 The vivid colour can be seen a long distance away, in 

 contrast to the sombre colouring of the mountain side ; 

 and the Keas, sighting it, heedless of the hidden danger, fly 

 down to satisfy their curiosity, and so become spoil for the 

 hunter's gun. 



Some men have learned to imitate the Kea's peculiar call, 

 and this seldom fails to add heads to the heap already 

 obtained. 



When a number of Keas is present and the Kea-hunter 

 has no more cartridges, the following trick is sometimes 

 resorted to. While in full sight of the birds, he walks 

 behind an overhanging ledge of rock and remains quiet ; the 

 Keas, who have been watching his every movement, are 

 almost overwhelmed with a longing to know where he has 

 vanished. They fly on to the rock, and have a somewhat 

 animated discussion as to the reason of his disappearance. 

 Finally one bird walks to the edge and peeps over at him 

 as much as to say, "What on earth are you doing there?" 

 This is the Kea-hunter's chance ; there is a swift blow from 

 his stick, and the Kea topples over. The other birds, seeing 

 that number one has not come back to report, but has also 

 disappeared over that mysterious ledge, likewise go to inspect, 

 and often quite a number are killed in this strange way. 



