64 
MONCRIEFF, Birds of West Coast, N.Z. [ T?t/u'T 
hears of many lurid murders, but up to date I have not met an 
eye-witness. Like the tellers of ghost stories, the narrator' is 
never the person who saw the Kcas doing the killing, it is usually 
a neighbour. Mr. E. Stead affirms that the marking of a ewe 
with red raddle as a branding mark is sufficient in some parts 
to spell its death, as the Keas are immediately attracted to what 
they mistake for hlood. 1 have seen the sheep bleeding from cuts 
done in shearing which surely would be even worse than raddle 
if this is the case. 
Mr. Peter Graham, the famous guide, maintains that for years 
he kept thirty ewes at a time in the neighbourhood of Keas at 
the Hermitage, and never had them touched. To an outsider like 
myself, six shillings appears a monstrous sum to expend on the 
destruction of a few birds, whilst the Government compels owners 
to destroy rabbits for nothing, which last are an infinitely worse 
pest. 
Do Keas kill sheep or not? Surely in these enlightened days 
one could photograph them in the act. The mere fact of their 
being seen sitting on a sheep’s back is not sufficient proof, a> the 
Starling does the same. If the Keas are proved guilty, are they 
murderers by choice, or are they driven to it by starvation in 
hard winters? 
Again, do all Keas kill sheep or are there sheep-killing Keas, 
as in India there are man-eating tigers? If the latter is the case, 
why let such an interesting bird be exterminated for the sake of 
a few depraved ones? Six shillings per beak appears to be an 
excellent source of pocket-money for musterers and others, who 
naturally wish to paint the bird as black as they can. Tt is never¬ 
theless a somewhat expensive amusement for the taxpayers, 
and, being one myself, 1 should like to see the point cleared up — 
and before the Kea joins the band of extinct birds. It would 
be a pity to exterminate them and then find it was not really 
necessary. “Give a dog a bad name and hang him,” is an old 
saying, and I suspect many people of making use of it to augment 
their purses. 
A visit to a bird sanctuary (the haunt of the now rare White 
Heron) in the neighbourhood of the Glacier more than repaid 
us. We were unfortunate enough to miss them, they being on 
their nests up a creek, but we found ourselves surrounded by 
Black Swans and other wild fowls. The Swans were proceeding 
like a fleet in battle formation, the cygnets well protected by a 
parent on either side. Those birds without young rose on our 
approach, and flapped out of danger, the white on the under 
wing showing at each stroke, an excellent advertisement for “Black 
and White.” Finding a late nest containing five eggs, we photo¬ 
graphed it. The eggs were laid on a nest well lined with down 
and raised on a heap of rushes between flax plants a few feet 
from the water’s edge. 
Black .Teal and Grey Duck flew overhead as we wended our 
way round unexpected corners up narrow waterways.. A Brown 
