Sheep-Killing Parrots.

Hokitika Guardian, 5 December 1921, Page 1

Sheep- Killing Parrots.

(London Daily Mail). Till- news that illl- Xew Zealand (m----vt rntnent are paying -is for ovary beak of the kan rovalls an interesting problem which has puzzled naturalists for vears. Kea is the native name for a green parrot known to science as Xcstod notahilis, which is found in the mountain regions of the South Island. Now. almost within living memory, this bird has entirely altered its habits. When the first settlers came to Xew Zeeland the kea was largely a vegetable feeder, the animal part of its diet being confined to insects and grubs. To-day this parrot is one of the most formidable pests with which the sheep farmer has to contend. While soaring overhead the kea selects a fine fat sheep. Swooping downwards the bird settles on the back of the animal and at once starts to tear away the wool with its powerful beak. Nor does the bird stop with the removal of the wool, but it actually digs right down into the living flesh, actually reaching the kidneys of the unhapny creature, on the fat of whi h it proceeds to feast. \ll lb . lime tile kea holds on to the wool with its long claws and. until the | ended, the sheep is unite unable to get rid or the pest. So great l j s ibe damage \vro I "dit by the bird that i numbers of sheep are injured so badlv that thov die nr have to he premat nrolv slaughtered, j ft has been suggested that the kea admired its taste for sheep’s flesh from ; fhe offal which the farmers left ox- : i'o-e'l after slaughtering the annual. A : much more cm-inns explanation has rei eoivod a good deal of summit. Tn some j ~lenders it is believed that ovginallv ' tho kea mistook the sheen for a plant. Tn the mountains of Xew Zealand I I lio re is to he found one of the most remarkable tihinis in the world Tins is tin- ltaenlia. or vegetable sheep. The olnnt wliiuh is a member of the great da.isv tribe, is little more than a mass of clnselv packed twigs thickly enve-ed with white woollv leaves. At a distance the llaoulia so closely resembles a sheen m- a group id sheep resting on Ibe hillside that unite often a sheeherd has el imbed a long distance te gather what he thinks are lost members of hi-’ flock. It is conceived that the kea was in dim habit of settling on the sheep plants and smirching among the woollv leaves for grubs. On flic introduction c f |slnx‘ii into Xew Zealand the bird mi-f.aik Hie white woollv animal for lb“ nlant'i Kimlino the I'esli of the sbeoo to its taste the 1.-eo- altered its , habits an 1 no longer bothered about searching for grubs in the Ttnonlias