170 
On the surgical operation performed on the living sheep by the Kea, an interesting paper 
was read before the Pathological Society of London, in November 1879, by the distinguished surgeon, 
Mr. John Wood, F.E.S. He exhibited the colon of a sheep in which the operation known as 
colotomy had been performed by this Parrot, of which likewise he produced a skin, both specimens 
having been sent to him for that purpose by Dr. De Latour of Otago. Mr. Wood was informed by 
his correspondent that when the sheep are assembled, wounds resulting from the Kea’s “ vivisection ” 
are often found on them, and not unfrequently the victims present an artificial anus — a fistulous 
opening into the intestine — in the right loin. 
“ The specimen exhibited was from a sheep that had been so attacked. It consisted of the 
lumbar vertebrae and the colon, showing the artificial anus between the iliac crest and the last rib on 
the right side — just in the place, that is, where modern surgeons perform the operation known to 
them as Amussat’s ; below the wound the intestine was contracted, while it was enlarged and hyper- 
trophied above. The sheep was much wasted. The modus operandi was described as follows : The 
birds, which are very bold and nearly as large as Rooks, single out the strongest sheep in the flock , 
one bird, settling on the sacrum, tears off the wool with its beak, and eats into the flesh till the sheep 
falls from exhaustion and loss of blood. Sometimes the wound penetrates to the colon, when, if the 
animal recovers, this artificial anus is formed ; it may be on the left, but is more frequently on the 
right side * *. It has been suggested that the bird aims at the colon in search of its vegetable contents , 
but the Kea’s carnivorous appetite has been too frequently noticed to necessitate any such hypothesis. 
This strange phase of development through which the Kea has gone since the European colonization 
of New Zealand, and the consequent introduction of sheep to islands in which indigenous mammals 
are almost unknown, by which it has come to prefer an animal to a vegetable diet, was first desciibed 
in 1871 by Mr. T. H. Potts (‘ Nature, 5 vol. iv. p. 489) ; but it was reserved for Dr. De Latour to 
discover the interesting result which Mr. AVood has just introduced to English naturalists. 
Zoologist , Eeb. 1880. 
Before the full development of the raptorial habit described above, the penchant for raw flesh 
exhibited by this Parrot in its wild state was very remarkable. Those that frequented the sheep- 
stations soon manifested a distaste for all other food and lived almost exclusively on flesh. They 
took possession of sheep’s heads that were thrown out from the slaughter-shed, and picked them 
perfectly clean, leaving nothing but the bones. An eye-witness thus described this operation : 
“ Perching itself on the sheep’s head, or other offal, the bird proceeds to tear off the skin and flesh, 
devouring it piecemeal, after the manner of a Hawk, or at other times holding the object down with 
one foot, and with the other grasping the portion it was eating, after the ordinary fashion of 
Parrots.” 
At this period of its history the plan usually adopted on the stations for alluring this bird was 
to expose a fresh sheep-skin on the roof of a hut ; and whilst engaged in tearing up the bait it was 
easily approached and shot. 
birds, -which are the more difficult to shoot from their nocturnal habits. Two or three runs in wild districts have been abandoned 
in consequence of the ravages of these harpies. This is a remarkable instance of change of habits, under altered conditions, for, of 
course, it is only within a few years that sheep have been introduced into the part of the country the Kea inhabits, and there was 
formerly no indigenous animal for it to prey on. In the summer the Kea lives on honey and berries. It is in the winter, when 
these fail, that it descends from the mountains and harries the flocks.” Another newspaper, by way of comfort, adds The 
Keas have found rivals in Seagulls, which are now to be seen in the Lake Country, Otago, driving away the Iveas from the carcases 
of sheep these birds are devouring.” 
* Cf. an interesting article on Nestor notabilis, ‘ Zoologist,’ 1881, pp. 290-301; also the figure facing p. 184 of ‘Out m 
the Open.’ This illustration represents a scene from the alpine country when under snow ; a well conditioned merino is attacked 
by a Kea, and the animal in its terror, rushing hither and thither, has broken away from a small mob of sheep and is undergoing 
the first experience of torture from the beak of the Parrot. 
