The Deadly Kea.

Feilding Star, Volume XV, Issue 233, 7 February 1894, Page 3

The Deadly Kea.

A writer in an English magazine, in the course of a description of the havoc made by dogs among flocks of sheep in New Zealand, makes the following graphic reference to the killing of sheep by the kea bird:— As an immediate result of the dogs' work the picture- is sad enough to contemplate ; but think of the scene when the mother, though sorely bitten, still lives and continues to give to her young what sustenance and protection she is able ! With the dawning the dogs betake themselves off to a sate hiding place till night shall again favour a renewal of their work ; but the dyin« sheep is relieved of their presence only to be placed at the mercy of another enemy, more cruel, if possible, than they. A screech high in the heaven causes the startled ewe to look quickly into the sky. A second later she runs a few paces forward, stamps her foot, and, turning, calling her lamb to her side. At first the brave mother is able to repel the attacks of her feathered foe, but as the minutes creep slowly by. and her strength rapidly diminishes, the kea comes nearer and nearer with every swoop till at length it alights upon the woolly back. For a time she haa sufficient strength to drive it off, but each moment she becomes more dazed and exhausted with suffering, each moment the contest becomes more unequal and the certainty of some further horror being added to her approaching death more sure. Closer sounds the rustle of the v»rmillion and golden-hued pinions, closer the exultant screech of ghastly anticipation, till at length the helpless and beaten- sheep makes one last effort to scare off her assailant, fails, and sinks to the earth as sinks a stone. In an instant the kea darts upon its prey drags apart the wool with its talon?, cuts open the twitching flesh with its sharp beak, and, driving its head into the body, tears forth the reeking kidney fat it had learned to love so well, and devours it before the breath has left its victim's body.