J. Cassidy—A Chat about the Kea



77



Soon the other Keas who had been unable to dine discovered the

replete bird and made eager inquiries, and “ for many days afterwards

they all dined well ”.


The sheep, which had never before found the Keas unfriendly,

were taken by complete surprise. The owners of the sheep saw, with

amazement, the great holes made in the sides of their sheep, and saw

some of them writhing in agony on the ground. At first they could

not discover what had caused the trouble. But one day a shepherd,

watching through a spy-glass, saw a Kea alight on the back of a sheep

and begin to dig with its cruel strong beak into the loin of the living

animal; to and fro ran the defenceless sheep, the Kea, undaunted,

keeping to its victim, which was released from suffering only by death.

Thus Mr. Boss.


Mr. Marriner, wishful to extract the truth and nothing but the

truth as to the guilt or innocence of the accused Kea, made very care¬

fully guarded investigations and took strict precautions to make the

evidence as reliable as possible, and in order to ensure this refused

any evidence but the accounts of actual eye-witnesses, each willing

to swear to the truth of his evidence before a Justice of the Peace,

if necessary ; and he is of opinion that as far as human evidence can

be relied on for its veracity it is conclusively proved that the Kea

does actually attack and kill sheep.


Very much more might well be written about the Kea : of the

price placed on its head ; of the Kea-hunting, resulting in the slaughter

of thousands of birds, by gun and by poison. Kea-hunting is taken

up by men all over the Kea country. The extreme inquisitiveness of

the birds is often in the hunter’s favour. The devices for attracting

them are innumerable and ingenious, the result being long strings of

Kea-heads, for which as much as 10s. per head has been offered and

paid, together with the hunter’s expenses ; the price to-day is half a

crown—but space forbids. In spite of all efforts directed against them

the Keas are still proving a cause of grave trouble to New Zealand

sheep-farmers.


Inquiry made the other day of the Intelligence Officer of the

Dominion of New Zealand, elicits the statement that “ these birds

are still proving a cause of trouble to New Zealand sheep-farmers and



